June 25, 2019
Mounds Park Academy is happy to announce the expansion of its bus services to the Minneapolis area for the 2019-20 school year!
This expansion is the result of unprecedented interest from prospective families in the area as well as the school’s desire to serve current and future families better. This new route will be in addition to the routes that are currently offered to and from Stillwater, Lakeland, Woodbury, North Oaks, Roseville, St. Paul, Highland Park, and throughout District 622.
Minneapolis bus route details:
- Unlike our other bus routes, the cost of the Minneapolis route will include before and after school care for Lower and Middle School children.
- To allow for participation in athletics, enrichment classes, and other after school activities, many of which are offered at no additional cost, this route will leave the MPA campus at 4:30 PM.
- The tentative group stops will be at Lyndale Ave S & 50th Street E and Lyndale Ave S & 42nd St E. These stops may be adjusted.
- This route is pending ridership. We will confirm the route when the minimum number of riders is reached.
For more information about this as well as MPA’s other bus routes, visit moundsparkacademy.org/mplstransportation. To sign up for transportation, current and new families may contact Amanda Platson, student billing coordinator, at aplatson@moundsparkacademy.org or 651-748-5502.
With 13 athletes plus relay alternates qualifying for the state meet, it was a busy weekend for panthers track and field. On Thursday, MPA’s state qualifiers, alternates and coaches took a bus to Hamline University for the season’s final practice on the track at Hamline. After practice, the team enjoyed a stop at Jamba Juice on the way home!
MPA Track and Field went toe to toe with the best competition in Section 4A and emerged with a record number of runners advancing to the state meet!
Meet Hannah Lawson, who has been selected as the new director of orchestras and music teacher. Ms. Lawson will join our community and the Twin Cities after eight years of public and private school teaching in the United States and abroad. Most recently, she has been teaching orchestra and general music in Saudi Arabia! She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Music Education from Boston University. We are excited about Hannah’s passion for music, her deep and thorough knowledge of composition and music theory, and her excitement to lead MPA’s orchestras to continued excellence.
Meet Ian Cunningham, who we are thrilled to welcome back after he completed his student teaching with us just last fall! Mr. Cunningham is joining the Middle School faculty as the new social studies teacher for grades five and six. He is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota with a Master of Education in social studies, and his Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in youth studies is also from the University of Minnesota. He brings a wonderfully positive energy to the Middle School and is already a beloved member of our community, especially by students. He is a talented young teacher with a real passion for the social studies, an ability to connect students with content, and a commitment to equity, justice, and goodness.
As the 2018–19 school year comes to an end, we’re sharing the college choice stories of several members of the Class of 2019!
During its June 2019 meeting, the MPA Alumni Association unanimously approved the following new board members.
Meet Lauren Drake, who is joining MPA’s faculty as an Upper School English teacher! A veteran English teacher, she has taught in both Northern California and in Colorado and recently relocated back to Minnesota. After graduating from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., Ms. Drake matriculated to Carlton College where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English (magna cum laude) and then received a Master of Arts in British and American literature from Mills College. Learn more about her below!
In May 2018, Middle School faculty members Ms. Meras, Ms. Powell, and Ms. Nagle first began thinking of ways to better utilize the food waste in the cafeteria. With the help of a Ramsey County grant and members of EcoConsilium, MPA was able to purchase a food recycling system and larger waste bins. MPA’s food waste is now sent to a pig farm, where it can be recycled as feed. There are two other bins available at lunch–one for trash and one for recyclable materials. While this was a significant change from simply dumping all lunch waste into one bin, our community adapted quickly and the student body has been enthusiastically cooperating. MPA has received positive feedback and high remarks that we are doing an excellent job of sorting our food waste and the impact has been positive.
On June 8, 2019, students, families, and faculty gathered in Mounds Park Academy’s Nicholson Center to graduate the Class of 2019. The evening began with the Upper School Band’s rendition of “Pomp & Circumstance” as the junior color guard and MPA faculty and staff presented the graduates. Throughout the ceremony, the Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers shared songs and three members of the Class of 2019 spoke. Gabby Law ’19, Julia Portis ’19, and Valedictorian Ajay Manicka ’19 shared words of pride, encouragement, and inspiration for their fellow classmates.