December 17, 2025
From Lower School to Upper School: A Week of Code
MPA’s school-wide, week-long participation in Hour of Code was a tremendous success! Throughout the week, students across all grade levels explored computer science through a variety of interactive platforms—building characters, games, and puzzles while learning the fundamentals of coding. Hour of Code is an international initiative that aims to make computer science accessible to all learners and to spark curiosity about the ways technology shapes our world. For some Lower School students especially, this was their first opportunity to experience coding.
Robotics Teams Showcased Robots In Action
Adding to the excitement, the MPA Robotics Team hosted the first-ever Lower School Robotics Assembly. Initially founded in 2011 by former MPA teacher and Makerspace coordinator Ms. Nicole Koen. In 2014, Mr. Marc Shapiro, Upper School Physics teacher, became the coach. His leadership and student involvement have grown steadily over the past 15 years to include both Middle and Upper School teams. Each season, students collaborate with mentors to design, build, and program a robot to meet a unique set of challenges before competing with and against teams from other schools.
During the assembly, both teams showcased their robots in action, much to the delight of the Lower School audience. Using game pieces and designs from previous competitions, they demonstrated precision, creativity, and teamwork in motion.
Each team is made up of subgroups that focus on design, programming, building, and operations, and students devote many hours each week during the six-week build season preparing for competition. Their dedication, innovation, and collaborative spirit exemplify MPA’s mission to combine creativity, problem-solving, and purpose in learning.
- The Middle School team, the Gentoos, competes in the FIRST Tech Challenge, designing a robot that must fit into an 18×18-inch box.
- The Upper School team, the MPArors, competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition, designing, programming, and building a robot weighing roughly 115 pounds.
At MPA, curiosity and innovation begin early. From coding in the Lower School to advanced robotics in the Upper School, students are encouraged to dream big, think boldly, and bring their ideas to life.
From George Mills ’04
from Dr. Lori-Anne Brogdon, head of school
“Stories In The Snow” at the Book Festival has lived up to its name this week! Thank you to all the families who have joined and the parent volunteers who made it happen. 
Congratulations to the MPA debate team on a fantastic performance at the Classic State Debate Festival. Fifty students represented the school and debated about the benefits and drawbacks of the U.S. military commitment to South Korea. Their countless hours of research, thinking, and practice contributed to numerous successes across the three divisions of competition—novice, junior varsity, and varsity and to the team finishing third in the sweepstakes competition.
from James Ewer, Lower School director 
from Paul Errickson, Middle School director
from Mark Segal, Upper School director
Thanks to all the parents who joined our inaugural PA Community-Wide Meeting on Monday! We’ll report back in the January edition of Parent Press. In case you missed it, here is our