Mounds Park Academy

Important MSHSL Update & Winter Sports Registration

October 1, 2020

Mounds Park Academy Winter Sports Registration is now live on the Athletic website. The Minnesota State High School League approved this morning that winter sports are a go for 2020-2021. Winter sports will be reduced to 70% of a normal season, 2 meets/games per week. Programs may change due to health and safety recommendations. If you have any questions please let contact the athletics office.

Start dates:
Alpine and Nordic Skiing: November 30
Boys Basketball: November 23
Boys Hockey: November 23
Girls Basketball: December 7

Schedules for each program will be reconfigured to meet the MSHSL requirements. Click here to register >

The Minnesota State High School League voted down tournament play past Sections in all Fall sports. There will be no State tournaments for the Fall season.

Finding A Home: The Roseth Family’s Journey To MPA

September 29, 2020

How did your family discover MPA? Maybe you saw a billboard or heard an ad on Minnesota Public Radio. Perhaps you read an article about an MPA athletic team, or searched on Google. But for almost 80% of families, finding MPA meant connecting with someone already within our community like a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, or a family member.

For the Roseth family—parents Aaron and Anna, sixth grader Ari, fifth grader Andrew, and third grader Annika—who started in the fall of 2020, discovering MPA began with a bumper sticker on a teammate’s minivan at football practice. That teammate was Dylan Rengstorf, whose sister Emma, attended MPA. Ari and Dylan became fast friends and so did their families.

Shortly before meeting the Roseth family, Jason and Joana Rengstorf had chosen MPA after looking for a school where Emma could thrive in an inclusive place that provided a safe environment for her to excel as a student. When they found MPA, they knew it was the right fit. Read More

RSVP To Discover Something Remarkable

September 28, 2020

You and your entire family are warmly invited to attend the MPA Preview on Sunday, November 8 at 2 PM.

Though virtual, this event will provide prospective families with an opportunity to truly discover the type of remarkable hands on learning that MPA students do each day.

You will rotate among several classes, taught by expert faculty. These will be interactive, experiential sessions that are actually abbreviated versions of real MPA lessons, modified to be appropriate for all ages.

Prospective families will also have an opportunity to take a virtual tour and experience 17 of our state-of-the-art spaces.
Read More

MPA v. Blake Varsity

September 26, 2020

This morning, you had a dual meet on a course with more twists and turns than a Stephen King novel. Fortunately, the only bears on the course were the Blake runners.

Our boys varsity was first up. Isak chased the top Blake runners for most of the race, finishing 3rd with his second best ever time. Peter started fast and hung on to finish 5th. His time this morning was about 90 seconds faster than his previous meet two weeks ago. Ben ran well the entire race, closing on Peter during the latter stages of the race. He improved his personal best time by 12 seconds. Evan’s breakfast was giving him a little trouble during the race, but he still managed to finish 9th and improve his time from two weeks ago by almost 30 seconds. Trevor wound up as our 5th runner. He improved his personal best by almost a minute! Eddie, in just his second varsity race, improved his personal best by about 40 seconds. Liam also has some trouble with his breakfast choices, and had to stop to get a divorce from his breakfast. He did persist and finished the race.

Next up was our girls varsity. After leading the first part of the race, Margo chased the top girls from Blake, ultimately finishing 4th. Cara started out further back, but made a strong move in the second half of the race, finishing in 5th place, and running just 2 seconds behind her personal best time. Izzy also surged in the latter part of the race, finishing 9th. Teagan, running in her first varsity race, moved up significantly during the second half of the race, finishing just 6 seconds behind Izzy. Abigail was our 5th runner, closing out the scoring for our team. She improved her personal best by 90 seconds. Sophia kept a steady quickish pace the entire race. It paid off, as she improved her personal best time by over a minute!

In this small meet format, with just two teams, I thought you did well to stick with groups of the Blake runners as long as you could. Even if you did fall back later in the race, this helped you run better times. Next up, in just ten days, is our conference championship. We will have a shot at Breck and Providence Academy.

You can see the results for our runners here.

MPA v. SPA JV Meet

September 25, 2020

On a warm, humid afternoon, ten of our JV runners, including many middle school runners, raced well.

Our boys started things off. Leo, running in his first cross country race, ran well to finish in 3rd place overall. Joey finished with a strong kick to earn 5th place overall, against mostly high school competition! Henry S., wearing his signature baseball cap (now a very sweaty baseball cap), ran very well to improve his personal best by over 30 seconds! Sam, running his first 5000 meter cross country race, was only a few seconds behind Henry S.

Andrew was surprised, and perhaps pleased, that many of his friends dropped by to cheer him on. Very loudly. They even tried to run alongside him, but they couldn’t keep up with him. Zain finished a few seconds behind Andrew, and was probably wondering what all the fuss was about. Noah finished with a good kick. And Eilam ran his second 5000 meter race of the season.

Later, our two Amy’s did the girls race. After tiring out their coach by walking the course with him, they raced 5000 meters. For the younger Amy, this was her first cross country race, after she did her warmup on the swing on the new playground. For the older Amy, this was her second time on this course, and this time she did not take any wrong turns and finished with a good kick.

It was a challenging day to race, and you did well to overcome the conditions!

(Click to see the full size images)

Connect With Parents On Wednesday Mornings

September 24, 2020

The Parents Association invites parents and guardians to get together Wednesday mornings after drop off. Mark your calendars, it will be fun!

Wednesday, September 30: Join us for a 30 minute walk with Michelle Mick. We’ll meet in the Lower School Parking lot and head out, rain or shine. Chat with new parents and connect with friends. Younger children are welcome to walk with us.

Wednesday, October 7: We’ll meet at the Farmer’s Market at Aldrich Arena at 8:15 AM. Feel free to send your favorite Farmer’s Market recipes to Kim Jakway beforehand. She’ll bring copies for everyone. The market is mostly cash, although some stalls take credit cards.

Remember to bring a mask to all events! Hope to see you there!

No Neighborhood Coffee This Year
Due to COVID and the difficulties of social distancing at a café, the MPA Parents Association has cancelled neighborhood coffee for this year. See you next year!

Show Your Appreciation With The PA

September 24, 2020

The MPA faculty and staff have been working double-time to keep our kids learning, connected, and safe. We want to express our appreciation in a way that honors everyone’s safety and doesn’t burden the folks we are trying to appreciate. Please sign-up here to make a thank you card for members of MPA’s faculty and staff!

You can create a card in real life and scan it, or create a virtual one. Either way, you will then send it as a PDF to Raphael Coffey at raphaelcoffey@gmail.com on or before October 11. We will print them out (one-sided, in color, on 8.5×11 cardstock), fold them once like a typical greeting card, put them in envelopes, and deliver them with a small token of appreciation from the Parents Association.

Every person plays a role in our children’s education. Please consider thanking some of the folks that we, as parents and family of students, may not come into contact with as often as our kid’s classroom teachers. We can show our teachers and staff how much we appreciate them despite our constraints!

Invite A Friend To The MPA Fall Preview

September 24, 2020

Invite a friend, neighbor, colleague, or family member to join us for MPA’s largest PreK-12 admission event, the MPA Fall Preview! Held virtually on Sunday, November 8 starting at 2 PM, this event will be a structured program that will allow prospective students and parents to get a sense of what makes MPA an exceptional place to learn and grow.

Kindly invite your friends and neighbors to RSVP in advance for this engaging program at moundsparkacademy.org/RSVP. If you have any questions, contact the Office of Admission at 651-748-5577 or admission@moundsparkacademy.org. We can’t wait to meet them!

Brave Space

September 24, 2020

At this moment in our nation’s history and in the midst of vitriol and violence, I’ve found inspiration in poet Micky ScottBey Jones in her call to create “brave space” where healing can take place in the midst of caring community. At MPA, we seek to build a brave place where students are known and valued and together create a space where we treat each other with kindness and respect. In brave space, students learn to truly value one another and work together to make room for diverse perspectives.

At the same time, we are bombarded day and night on social media and the news with the bitterness of socially and politically charged messages that rend rather than mend the fabric of our society. The political and cultural polarization, already exponentially widening, has only been accentuated by the pandemic. Searing language and personal attacks that characterize contemporary political debate, are words contrary to our school culture. In the lexicon of our Lower School, they certainly would not be CHAMP behavior.

Respectful and constructive civil discourse is at the heart of our democracy. Students develop knowledge, skills, and civic responsibility when they are invited into conversations that are emotionally engaging, intellectually challenging, and relevant to their own lives. As the election heats up and the first debate among presidential candidates approaches, we must recommit to ensuring brave space by grounding ourselves anew in our long-standing school policies of respect and respectful discourse that flow directly from our mission and values. Read More

MPA’s Symptom Response & Contact Tracing Procedures

September 23, 2020

Through our team of medical advisors and the MPA Community Advisory Group, we have detailed and multi-pronged procedures for symptom response, contact tracing, and confirmed cases. These procedures are a cornerstone of the Back To MPA Plan. Our highly-trained contact tracing team will deploy a swift, personal, and private response that is taken through our 49-point COVID-19 response flow chart to effectively manage each step along the way. Our team will also partner and work hand-in-hand with the Minnesota Department of Health and other local officials.

In order to implement these rigorous procedures, we need families and students to partner with us. You need to notify MPA immediately at covid19tracing@moundsparkacademy.org if your …

student or someone in your household is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms;
student is a “close contact” of a confirmed COVID-19 case; and/or
student or someone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19.