Grant Program
To encourage alumni to explore the dimensions of the MPA mission in their lives, the Mounds Park Academy Alumni Association offers a one-time, non-renewable grant of $500 to be used towards an alumnus’ special project or education. This grant is designed to help assist alumni in research, education, or other matters that illustrate, among others, global responsibility and learning.
If you would like to apply, please download the 2011 application materials here. Applications are currently being accepted until March 31, 2011. Please contact Tasslyn Magnusson via email or at 651-748-5531 with questions.
Story of a Grant Winner
2009 Alumni Grant
Rachel Gates ’02
It has been many years since I graduated from Mounds Park Academy but I find myself returning there, to that place I called home for six years. I have never been in a place that filled me with such hope, such excitement, and such expectations of myself and the world. I have taken MPA’s mission, particularly the joy of learning, and put it into my current work and higher education.
I am beginning my fourth year at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and I can hardly believe the scope of my work with youth in the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC). As a Senior Youth Program Manager, I lead youth teams, supervise full-time, part-time, and youth staff, manage operating costs and grant budgets, write grants to support the work of the youth, implement strategic planning teams, co-lead the Parent Advisory Council, and present to the endowment committee. My passion among all of those responsibilities is working with youth. The high school students that enter the program often say they hate their science classes. “I just don’t like science the way they teach it at my school,” one junior explained, “it’s boring.” By the end of the program, this same youth proudly ushers visitors
into the Cell Lab. “I’ve learned a lot of skills in the Cell Lab, like how to talk to visitors and prepare protozoa slides. I’m going off to college this fall and I want to major in Biology.”
When the MPA Alumni Association accepted my Alumni grant proposal, I was thrilled. It is now three months into the Teens Talk Science project, a podcast created by the high school Cell Lab Crew with whom I work. They research current science articles and record discussions about how science relates to their lives. I am continually amazed at the things I learn while working with them, and helping them realize the joy of learning too.
I have started a Masters program at Hamline University to study natural science and environmental education. I am sure my capstone project will be about the Cell Lab Crew at the Science Museum. The joy of learning never ends, it is something that keeps me asking, “What’s next?”
