Vote For William Kim Through April 5!
April 1, 2020
Keep on casting your vote for MPA senior William Kim to be a finalist for the MPR Minnesota Varsity showcase concert! MPR listeners are voting to select one of this year’s 10 Featured Artists to advance to the Showcase concert in May.
Listen online and click here to vote for William until 11:59 PM on Sunday, April 5!
March 26, 2020
by Dr. Bill Hudson, head of school
Great teachers make great online teachers. By now, you’ve read or heard me say that repeatedly over the last several weeks. To be honest, other than a few scattered snow days over the last several years, my assertion was more conjecture than evidentiary. However, after several days this week, I know this to be true. Because I know each teacher well, I knew in my heart but I now have proof that MPA teachers are great no matter the platform or medium.
It has been an incredible experience, working together with teachers, staff, and administration, to make the transition to virtual school. Through caffeine, adrenaline, and sheer will, we powered through to rise to the new challenge before us without doubt or hesitation. Frankly, there has never been another option. I didn’t realize this until I received a parent email with the following observation: “In corporate terms, this scale of change would have been vetted and pressure-tested through strategic planning process over a period of months, perhaps a full year’s planning cycle.” The can-do spirit of MPA has inspired us all. Read More
COVID-19 Parent Education Forum
March 26, 2020
MPA is committed to supporting parents as well as students. You are invited to Parent Education Forum with Dr. Julene Nolan, MPA school psychologist, and head of school Dr. Bill Hudson. The Parent Education Forum is designed to provide parents with the support, guidance, and insights needed to navigate these difficult times.
Please click here to share questions and concerns that are top-of-mind as you begin to navigate supporting your children through the changes that are happening in our world right now. We will use this to craft our time together and guide how we deliver future parent support. An example might be a question, “How do I keep my kids from fighting all the time?” a specific topic, “Screen time rules”, or a suggestion, “Here is something that is working for us.”
Topic: Parent Education Forum
Time: Mar 31, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 968 108 092
Password: 080517
Junior Hana Miller Celebrates Birthday With Blood Donation Campaign
March 26, 2020
Hana Miller has always been, and continues to be, a vocal advocate for blood donation. Amidst the severe blood shortage in the Twin Cities, which continues to suffer from the spread of COVID-19, Hana is doing right and organizing a blood donation campaign for her birthday this year.
“I’ve donated five times–the first on my 16th birthday–and passed out every time,” she said. “In fact, It was because of the tests that the Red Cross runs on their blood donors that I discovered that I was anemic. An average person should have a blood iron level around 16 and mine was recorded at a three!” After finding out she was ineligible to donate herself, Hana finds herself even more motivated to bring an awareness to blood donation.
The spread of coronavirus has forced a decline in the number of blood drives and donors in the United States “This is actually no surprise, considering the nearly 60% of the US Blood supply comes from donors over 45,” Hana stated. “This means that while the demand for blood has remained the same, possibly even increasing, our ability to meet that demand is decreasing. So considering I was stuck in my house for my birthday, and unable to spend the day as I wanted, I figured that the next best thing I could do was to try to help someone else. I decided to set up the donation campaign through the Red Cross.” Read More
March 25, 2020
This story series illustrates how our community is embracing, growing, and connecting through virtual learning together. Read on to see what MPA junior Isak Dai looks forward to as #MPAgoesvirtual!
While virtual learning may look and feel different than a regular school day, Isak breaks it down in a way that makes it feel very familiar, even away from campus–to him, virtual learning is “bundling up the work we do at school and doing it at home through the internet.”
“Before our current situation, we certainly were practicing some aspects of virtual learning by accessing online resources like Schoology, but now have been forced to take all of MPA online,” he said. “My hope is that through this challenge we can learn to take advantage of the many virtual learning resources at our disposal and take these lessons with us when we eventually return to school as usual.” Read More
When To Let Your Child Choose: Advice From A Parent In Making A School Decision
March 24, 2020
You are looking at school like Mounds Park Academy because you want the best for your child. You want your child to grow into a free spirit, a risk taker, a right maker, dreamer, and a doer. You want an independent thinker. Yet should your child, whom you have raised to be a respectful, decisive, critical thinker, make their own school choice? And what is your role, as the parent, in the school search process? This is a question that the Office of Admission is asked regularly.
Depending on the age and maturity of the child and the reason your family is changing schools, the continuum can range from a parent making the decision solo, to a combined decision making process, to the student selecting from the parent’s list of approved schools, to, in some cases, the student making the decision completely on their own. Where each family falls on this continuum is vastly different.
How Young Is Too Young?
Educational choices stick with a child for their entire life, so balancing the natural desire to provide a platform for your child’s input while knowing that what they decide has substantial implications on their future is critically important. The best parent-child partnerships blossom when both sides see this decision as a learning opportunity. Incorporating your child on this journey and welcoming them to contribute can be an incredible chance for them to develop maturity and show their growth. But as every child development expert will tell you, there’s a time and a place for a child’s choice, and there is a time when parents need to make the decision. Read More
MPA Goes Virtual: Kaija Kunze-Hoeg
March 20, 2020
This story series illustrates how our community is embracing, growing, and connecting through virtual learning together. Read on to see what MPA sophomore Kaija Kunze-Hoeg looks forward to as #MPAgoesvirtual!
Kaija tells us that she is excited to try this new style of learning. “To me, virtual learning is a new, innovative take on what a classroom looks like,” she says. “I expect to have to learn to focus harder as I will have more things that can distract me when I am learning from home.”
Knowing this may be a challenge for her, Kaija is preparing to set up her workspace to help her stay on task and continue achieving academically. MPA recommends starting with a quiet, well-lit area with strong Internet connection and a clean, clear working space to continue joyful learning away from campus. “I am going to try to make my at-home ‘classroom’ pretty close to what it would be at school so I can feel more engaged in my classwork,” she says. “I will use a desk, but it will just be more cozy.” Read More
Upper School Virtual Learning Update
March 19, 2020
Upper School Art Supply and Spanish V Text Curb-Side Pick-Up
Sunday, March 22, 12-3 PM, North Entrance
Your teachers will have bundled and labeled materials needed for your art (Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, and Printmaking) classes and/or your upcoming 4th quarter Spanish V class.
by Mark Segal, Upper School director
Some say that you can’t teach an old(er) dog new tricks. Well, as we adjust to our new reality of social distancing, closed businesses, and a run on supplies, I am realizing that we are all able to quickly make adjustments to our everyday lives. This includes instituting virtual school starting next Tuesday, March 24. This will certainly be a change for all of us. Rest assured, however, that since long before the official decision was made, the MPA faculty, administrative team, and I have been working hard to put into place an academic program that will blend well with our already exceptional school experience.
The most important element of our work in this virtual setting will be our collective ability to remain patient and flexible. Our highest priority right now needs to be ensuring the strength and integrity of our community in a time of anxiety and uncertainty. Extra steps need to be taken to take care of ourselves, of each other, and of our relationships. With that being said, we also know the importance of normalcy and routine in our lives, particularly the lives of our students. Established online schools have found that creating a consistent daily academic routine allows students to experience accountability to themselves and their classmates and gives them the opportunity to seamlessly progress through their course work.
Starting next Tuesday, we are asking your children to engage in their daily classes virtually. The first and best source of information will continue to be Schoology as this is how teachers will communicate with them even if they are holding class through another platform (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.). In Upper School, we will follow the regular MPA A/B-day and daily schedule for all classes (Tuesday is a B day). Upper School teachers will begin class at the regular start times and students are expected to join each of their classes on time (attendance will be taken as usual). Schoology will continue to be the primary platform on which lessons, assignments, materials and feedback is shared and teachers will communicate and update their plans/materials daily by 8 AM. Read More
March 9, 2020
Meet 2019-20 Alumni Association Board member Jeremy Drucker ’97!
Jeremy Drucker is a public affairs consultant working with non-profits, businesses, and governments to help them achieve their public policy objectives. Before finding his path in social justice and leadership, he was originally training to be an English Literature professor, but transitioned during graduate school to government and strategic communications work. “The skills I learned at MPA served me well in both settings,” he said. “They taught me how to write, they taught me how to speak, and they taught me how to think.”
Jeremy’s MPA experience of rigorous curriculum combined with caring, detail-oriented instruction formed the groundwork not just for him to utilize his passions personally and professionally, but also to organize them toward a globally positive goal.
Now, chooses to serve on the MPA Alumni Association Board for a variety of reasons. “MPA was very important to my educational, professional, and life development. I want to see it remain that way for others,” he said. “I’d like to see the board continue deepening the commitment of alumni to the school both personally and financially. Providing avenues such as the alumni-student mentorship program is a great way to do that.”
Calling All 2015-2019 MPA Graduates!
March 9, 2020
Do you remember when alumni would come back to talk to you in the Recital Hall about what life after MPA is really like? We would love to welcome you back to now participate in the Alumni Panel as a panelist. The panel is held on May 29 at 11:30 AM and alumni are welcome to have lunch prior. Please contact alumni@moundsparkacademy.org if you are interested in participating.