November 14, 2019
Today’s popular culture is often highly packaged and thoroughly curated. Everything looks good on screen, and the social media tally of likes, loves, and shares literally quantifies a hierarchy of success. But this desire to effortlessly excel at all can quickly backfire, especially for teens—leading to paralyzing anxiety on the path to perfection.
“Perfectionists often set unrealistically high standards for themselves and tie all results to their intrinsic self-worth,” writes Sheila Achar Josephs, Ph.D., in her column for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. “In contrast, what I call ‘positive strivers’ set realistic goals, enjoy challenging themselves and see mistakes as task-specific rather than as a blow to their self-esteem. Practicing this new approach to success means making sure goals are doable, changing the level of effort depending upon the importance of the task and finding satisfaction in the process of doing a task, not just in perfect outcomes.” Read More
Invite your friends and neighbors to join us on campus for lunch on Thursday, December 12 at 11:30 AM! This small-by-design event includes a casual lunch with students and administrators and opportunities to see inside classrooms, where students and teachers are in action during a regular school day.
by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School
Please join us on the Mounds Park Academy campus for lunch on Thursday, December 12 at 11:30 AM.
On January 14, 2020 we will be hosting a networking meet and greet event for our seniors at MPA. This will include alumni who participated in the mentorship program but we also would like all alumni and parents of alumni to join in this great opportunity. The event will take place in the Hart Commons on January 14, 2020 from 9-10 AM.
Don’t miss out on the chance for your business or restaurant to be featured in the MPA Holiday gift list. This year, one of the ways we would like to connect our current families to the great things our alumni are up to is through a holiday gift list. This list will be shared with our community for ideas to complete their holiday shopping that also support MPA graduates and parents! The list is not exclusive to gift buying for PreK through 12th grade students, it is all inclusive of the whole community, including purchasing gifts for other adults.
After graduating from Rice University, Laura Nicholson ’14 spent six months researching pollinator declines in the Ecuadorian cloud forest through a fellowship sponsored by Rice. She is now pursuing a Masters in Wildlife Ecology and Evolution at the University of Florida researching the endangered Florida Bonneted Bat in the Florida Everglades. 
As the colors of the leaves change and the temperature decreases, we are reminded that winter is near. In the season of Fall we find ourselves thinking of what we may be thankful for.
This weekend, MPA sent out the biggest debate team in school history to compete. Fifty-two students competed at the Minneapolis Southwest and Minnehaha Tournaments, and 28 students took home awards!
How we work, and learn to work, is changing for real and in real time. The technology, pace, and business models that define our local and national economies are shifting almost by the day, with old structures retiring and new approaches taking center stage. This fundamental change in career paths and professional expectations is shaping how progressive schools view the skills they teach students, and how they create opportunities for students to grow and prepare in and beyond the classroom.