New Faculty/Staff for 2010-2011

The Mounds Park Academy welcomes new faculty and staff to the community.

Daniel Bernal will be High School Program & Volunteer Coordinator for Breakthrough St. Paul. Daniel worked for five summers at Breakthrough Saint Paul, first as a math teacher and then Dean of Faculty. Daniel grew up on the east side of Saint Paul and graduated from Carlton in 2010 with a degree in Math & Educational Studies. He'll be doing his student teaching off campus during the first half of this school year.

After 20 years as a freelance writer and public relations account executive, Kris Killian pursued graduate studies in Education at St. Mary's University and the University of St. Thomas. She is licensed in Reading and Learning Disabilities and she has worked at New Heights and Great River Charter Schools and, most recently, at Stillwater Area High School. Kris also brings an international perspective to MPA, having lived and worked for a number of years in Tokyo, Japan, where her clients included 3M and Tokyo Disneyland.

Bill Madigan, 5th/6th grade math and science, most recently served as Assistant Principal at Holy Child School in St. Paul. He taught middle school math at Maternity of St. Mary/St. Andrew and middle school science at Ramsey Junior High. In 2008 he was awarded a 3M Ingenuity Grant. In addition to his teaching duties, Bill will be on the coaching staff for JV Boys Soccer. He holds Masters in Educational Leadership from St. Thomas and a BA in Science and Math for Elementary Education, also from St. Thomas .

Mitch Miller comes to MPA with an extensive background in educational facilities and grounds management with over 20 years of experience with ARAMARK Facilities Services, providing facilities management to health care institutions, universities, school districts and businesses around the world. Mitch has 15 years of experience in the K-12 school environment and most recently was at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, a 700,000 square foot facility with 27 buildings on 160 acres .

Katie Murr returns to MPA after a two-year absence, one year spent in the Czech Republic. Katie taught middle and upper school social studies and coached speech and debate in her previous tenure at MPA. She holds a BA in Political Science from Wellesley. Katie will teach two sections of World History 9, in addition to her Middle School duties.

Kari O'Keefe, 1st  grade, comes to us most recently from her 1st grade classroom at the Tesseract School in Eagan, where she taught for 12 years. She has also been an academic coach for students in grades K-5 and is an Orton-Gillingham practitioner, teaching reading to struggling readers. Kari holds a BA in Elementary Education from the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University.
 
Katy Selb (DiGiacomo), 2nd grade, most recently served as long-term substitute in the MPA 1st grade last year, having taken over for Barb Meland in March. Katy was founding director of the Shining Star Development Center in Bayport, where she managed all aspects of the non-profit child care center. She has also worked for School District 834 and for the Stonebridge Adventure Club in Stillwater. Katy student taught at Stonebridge Elementary, Andersen Elementary, Carver Elementary and at MPA in Pre-K and Kindergarten. She holds a BS in Elementary Education from UW River Falls and is working towards her MS in Education from UW Stout.