June 11, 2021
Ross Kigner, like many in the MPA class of 2008, lived and breathed sports. As a Panther, Kigner played football and basketball. And, like many other MPA students, he also represented the school in a variety of ways beyond athletics, as an award winning debater.
On the gridiron, Kigner was the utility player who did it all, excelling especially on defense and special teams. He memorably went a perfect three for three on kicks in an overtime upset of Blake School as a senior, and won the coaches’ Love of the Game Award three times in his high school career. Read More
Sisley Ng shined as the Panthers’ goalkeeper, playing on the girls varsity soccer team starting in seventh grade and subsequently earning five varsity letters. Her MPA soccer experience prepared her for playing at the next level because she was able to play multiple positions on the field. “Those experiences helped me understand the game and the positions a lot more,” she said.
When Stephanie Aanenson ’11 looks back on her time at Mounds Park Academy, she is always drawn to her experience on the golf team. “Athletics were the highlight of my thirteen year career at MPA. When I think back to my years at MPA, the girl’s golf team is where my mind goes first.”
Marguerite Devens ‘15 excelled in the pool for MPA’s co-op swim team, Metro United, comprised of students from five Tri-Metro Conference schools. Devens earned all-conference twice and received the team’s coaches’ award as a sophomore.
By the time Taylor Washington ’10 started her senior season in the fall of 2009, she had already led MPA to a state championship in girls tennis. But winning just one didn’t sit well with her, especially when it came with an asterisk. That asterisk came in 2007. In the finals vs. Rochester Lourdes, Washington’s MPA Panthers won by default when it was discovered that Lourdes had made a lineup violation. In her final season at MPA, Washington wanted to add to her championship pedigree with an indisputable victory.
Ty Johnston tried it all at MPA. Before graduating in 2004, he earned eight varsity letter awards across three different sports, soccer, basketball and baseball, and also tried cross country running. But baseball was his first love. As a star on the diamond for the Panthers, Johnston was a three time captain, two time team MVP and three time Tri Metro all-conference honorable mention honoree.
At a lifting session in the winter of his senior year, Yahya Madar ’19 wrote 6’10 in black sharpie on a piece of recycled paper and taped it to the wall in MPA’s weight room. 6’10 represented his goal for the high jump during that spring’s track and field season. It would require him to jump four inches higher than he ever had before, an unlikely possibility, but one that, with a herculean training and effort throughout the season, and a championship performance when it counted, was possible.
Before Zane Wold became a Valparaiso University Crusader Soccer player, he rewrote the records books for the MPA Panthers boys soccer team. The school record holder in both goals and assists, Wold was a midfielder who felt comfortable anywhere on the field. A Kare11 athlete of the week, he was named to the class A all-state first team, Tri Metro all-conference first team and Star Tribune all-metro second team following his senior season.
Eva graduated on June 6, 2021 as a member of the Mounds Park Academy class of 2021. She will attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.
Due to the extreme heat advisory and air quality alert in place today, the Mounds Park Academy Class of 2021 Commencement outdoor event has shifted to Sunday, June 6 at 9 AM. This will help us ensure a safer and more pleasant graduation experience for our seniors and their families, as well as staff and faculty.