March 19, 2024
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the March 10, 2024 issue of InsideMPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!
In and beyond the classroom, MPA students are inspired to pursue their aspirations with confidence and curiosity.
Last week, Middle School students embarked on Innovation Term (i-Term). This signature MPA Middle School program offers students a learning experience like no other in a single class of their choice. One week long and entirely ungraded, this is inquiry-based, experiential learning that far exceeds what can normally happen in the classroom. Some chose a French immersion experience in Quebec City. Others observed biology in Costa Rica. No matter which class they choose, students in small, mixed-grade classes go out into the world, work with subject-matter experts, and ignite some serious passions along the way.
i-Term is an embodiment of MPA’s mission: thinking independently and learning joyfully. But there are opportunities for students to commit to this kind of educational evolution PreK-12. MPA’s experiential learning approach emphasizes real-world connections, such as bringing in a surgeon to teach suturing to Upper School physiology students, fourth graders attending a live concert at Orchestra Hall, Upper School artists painting a piano in collaboration with local non-profit Keys 4/4 Kids, and kindergarteners experiencing a traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and tea ceremony. Whether through field trips to local museums or community service projects, students are using classroom knowledge to shake the world.
We deeply value purposeful academic rigor in an experiential, college-prep environment. MPA’s highly rigorous education does not challenge top students by piling on busywork, nor does it take away support and individual attention from a teacher. It creates a vibrant place to learn and grow by instilling a deep understanding of what they are learning–and why they are learning it.
