Two very different but highly credible sources rendered judgments on MPA in the last week.

Third graders don’t usually offer unsolicited testimony on the quality of school slogans. So the following conversation between MPA third grader Zoe and her mother, presented here verbatim, is particularly interesting:

“Mom, I like the MPA slogan,” Zoe said.

“Which slogan do you mean,” her mother asked.

“The one on the posters,” Zoe said. “We don’t teach kids what to think, we teach them how.”

“Really? Why do you like it, Zoe?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it for days, and it’s really true.”

I have all this from Zoe’s mother, of course. I wanted to know what Zoe would tell me about this. What might be an example of how she thinks it’s “really true.” So Zoe’s mom asked her for an example of the “slogan.”

In second grade, Zoe reported, they had to do their first research paper; it was on dinosaurs. Her teacher taught them how to “find information,” “take notes,” “put their notes in categories,” and “write a good paper.” She taught them what kind of information is “useful and good” and what kind is “extra.” But she didn’t tell them “what dinosaur to do, specific books they had to use, or what words they had to use.”

“Mom,” Zoe concluded, “I could write a research paper on anything now, not just another dinosaur, but anything.”

And speaking of research, here’s the word from our second credible source this week:

After every sports season for a number of years, the coaches, athletic directors and heads of the schools in our Tri-Metro Conference receive “sportsmanship” reports from competing schools in the conference. These are evaluations we do of each other’s schools.

Whenever a low score comes across an athletic director’s desk, s/he calls the other school to find out the reason – did our players exhibit less than acceptable behavior? Was it our coaches? Spectators? Is there cause for some action? Fortunately, MPA is rarely on the receiving end of these kinds of calls, routinely scoring among the highest in overall sportsmanship in this already stellar group of independent schools.

This year, the Tri-Metro Conference decided to ask a different group for their assessment of the behavior of our players, coaches and fans. So, after every contest this past fall, the men and women officiating at the games were asked to fill out a score card on the behavior of each team’s players, coaches and spectators.

Yesterday I received the first set of results from the officials' assessments of some of our fall sports. With strong showings on all those sports reporting, I am especially happy to report that, according to the officials at the games, our players, coaches and spectators all ranked number one in both Volleyball and Boys Soccer. This is out of a total of thirteen teams in the conference.

While it has been affirming to have heard these comments from opposing coaches over the years, it is especially gratifying that the officials also recognize that our student athletes, the coaches who lead them and the families and friends who cheer them on truly do embody the highest levels of sportsmanship.

Thanks go to Zoe and the men and women in black and white for the “official word” on MPA this week!