Blog Archives

The Summer Scoop With Natalie Waters Seum

August 6, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the August 11, 2025 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

In this issue of Inside MPA, we’re catching up with Natalie Waters Seum, director of admission and communication, as she reflects on summer and offers advice for those considering MPA for this fall. Whether you’re just starting your school search or already planning a visit, this conversation is full of insights and helpful next steps.

What’s one way the MPA community supports new families and students?

Our new families are embraced from the start—through summer social events, buddy families, and ongoing communication from both the division office and the Office of Admission. But perhaps the most meaningful support comes from the everyday moments once the family is on campus: a division director picking up the phone to check in, a teacher offering reassurance, a student inviting a new friend to sit by them at lunch. That’s just who we are.

What do you hope every new family experiences in their first year at MPA?

I hope they feel truly seen and supported—long before day one, actually. Our community is remarkably warm and welcoming, and I want every family to feel that they’ve found a place where their child will thrive, not just academically but socially and emotionally. I also hope they feel a growing sense of partnership with their child’s teachers and a sense of joy about their school choice. Read More

The Summer Scoop With Alli Capasso

July 9, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the July 9, 2025 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

In this issue of Inside MPA, we’ve connected with Alli Capasso, assistant director of admission, to ask about how her summer is going so far and what the admission process currently looks like in July.

What are the advantages of starting the application process over the summer?

Summer is the perfect time to begin your school search with less stress and more space to reflect. Families who start the application process now have time to explore, ask thoughtful questions, and envision the best fit for their child—without the competing demands of a busy school year. At MPA, the admission team is here all summer to guide you every step of the way.

What do you hope every new family experiences in their first year at MPA?

I hope they find a community! Our students are known, seen, and accepted for exactly who they are. I hope our parents find “the village” that will help raise their children to be problem-solvers, risk-takers, and people who will stand for justice and kindness in the world. Read More

A Guide To A Joy-Filled, Learning-Rich Summer

June 26, 2025

With the transition from school year to summer, families are presented with a unique chance to reimagine learning beyond the classroom. Summer has the potential for a joyful, enriching season where curiosity, creativity, and growth thrive together, whether it’s through imaginative play, new skills, outdoor exploration, or reflection. An intentional, balanced approach to summer can help children of all ages gain confidence, expand their skills and passions, and return to school feeling ready, refreshed, and inspired.

As parents navigate the summer season, many will ask: How do we make this summer count?

At Mounds Park Academy, we believe summer isn’t just a break, it’s a chance to grow in new ways. It’s still a season for joyful learning while adding outdoor exploration, and building key life skills that carry beyond the classroom. A well-balanced summer should focus on essential skills and goals for the child, blending movement, creativity, independent time, and meaningful experiences that bolster academic success during the school year.

Summer is the time that students can lean into their own interests, either by engaging in more choice reading, enrolling in a specialty sports camp, or taking out their sketchbook while lying under their favorite tree. The beauty of this time is that incorporating purposeful learning does not mean hours of worksheets and practice tests; it is experiential and a little bit more open-ended. Thoughtfully piecing together a summer that includes your child’s interests and needs while also pairing it with concrete goals is the first step to tailoring the perfect summer for your child and family. Read More

Living Out Our Mission

May 22, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the May 22 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

Since our founding, MPA’s mission statement has been simple, but powerful: “We teach students to think independently, communicate effectively, and act with respect and integrity in a diverse community that models intellectual ambition, global responsibility, and the joy of learning.” One of the most significant parts of the MPA experience is service learning. Designed to help students grow through acts of compassion and contribution, service learning at MPA encourages them to use their energy and talents to make a real impact–not for reward or recognition, but because it’s the right thing to do and helps improve our community both locally and globally.

“I learned that I really like to help people. I realized that it made me happy when I got to feel like I was being helpful, when I was given a task to do that would benefit others,” says MPA senior Lizzie Moldan about her work with Solid Ground. “I also really like working with kids, and this opportunity to tutor made me realize that even more than I did before.”

MPA students complete at least 60 hours of service during their four years of Upper School, including a capstone Senior Service Project that lets them dive deeper into a cause they care about. By giving back, students strengthen their connection to the many communities they’re part of and learn the power of empathy, leadership, and building positive relationships. Read More

Reflections From The MPA Class Of 2025 Lifers

May 22, 2025

Approaching the end of their final year roaming the halls of MPA as students, we had the honor of interviewing many of the MPA Class of 2025 Lifers about their experiences at MPA, the only school they’ve attended for their entire academic careers.

All incredibly talented students with well-versed backgrounds in the arts, athletics, and academics shared memories and reflections of MPA past and present, looking toward the future well prepared by MPA. Ari Williams, Henry Schwartz, Camdyn Magnuson, Quentin Hawley, Navreen Biring, Lucia Braith, and Rowan Mulrooney are all set to graduate on May 31, joining the Joanne Olson Club, reserved for students whose entire K-12 or PreK-12 journey has taken place here at MPA.

Choosing a school for 13 years means becoming part of a close-knit community where every child is truly seen and supported. So we asked: How has MPA’s community supported and shaped you as a student, a human being, and a young person?

Henry: The teachers get to know you really well. Recently, Ms. Murr in class made a recommendation for a book that I might like based on how she knows me. I know you wouldn’t get that anywhere else. It’s really cool. It teaches you how to ask questions because the teachers have that kind of connection with you, and it’s not scary to go up to them, even if it’s your first year having this teacher.

Rowan: My entire identity has been shaped by Mounds Park Academy, but especially when referring to the college application process, I would not nearly have been able to do what I did without the help of Dr. Quam. Especially hearing from other schools, their systems that they have set up for college health are not nearly the same. Especially with teachers, it’s very one-on-one and very helpful. Read More

The Power Of PreK-12

May 13, 2025

What is it about a PreK-12 learning environment that is uniquely powerful? Beyond just academics, this type of community fosters a sense of continuity, belonging, and deep-rooted connection that enriches the student experience. From the first day of school to graduation, students are surrounded by a familiar group of peers who nurture their growth and support their dreams. At MPA, this all-encompassing model creates a dynamic environment where meaningful relationships flourish, learning is intentionally built upon, and students are empowered to thrive.

Social Benefits

An amazing part of attending a PreK-12 school is that students are able to foster long-term, meaningful relationships with their peers (across all grades and divisions) and the adults in the building who know them well. Most adults can easily tell you about a teacher who impacted their lives–imagine if those teachers could stay in your life for an extended period of time and watch you grow. At the end of the year, after our seniors celebrate their last day of classes with each other in the Upper School commons, the next place they often head is to the Lower School to see the teachers who were fundamental in the foundation of their academic journey.

We often say it takes a village. When students truly find their village, they find a home here where they are supported, known, and seen for exactly who they are. And we have seen what happens to students who spend time in the MPA village. They blossom into confident, self-assured, generous students who dream big and do right.

Academic Benefits

At MPA, we have a comprehensive and cohesive curriculum because we are a PreK-12 space. Because we all work in the same building, we know what comes next and how to prepare students for the next step in their education. Communication between teachers and divisions allows for a smooth transition. Our faculty members are able to have conversations about where they have found success with each student and some challenges that each student might encounter in the future. Those conversations allow students and parents to come into a new grade or division without feeling like they are completely starting over each year. We are able to build and add to what we already know about a student. Read More

The Class Of 2025 Finds Their Fit

May 8, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the May 8 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

In a few short months, MPA Panthers from the Class of 2025 will become Wildcats, Badgers, Huskies, Ducks, Bruins, Boilermakers, Lions, and more.

They’ll pursue programs and passions in majors like engineering, neuroscience, business, biology, music, political science, public policy, and game design. Many of them will also be competing in athletics for their new schools, continuing their contests in basketball, cross country, skiing, and rowing.

They’ll dream big and shake the world at institutions across the United States, coast to coast and beyond, landing in 13 different states and Rome, Italy. They’ll be everywhere from California to Massachusetts and Colorado to North Carolina. They’re landing in cities all around the country, like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Read More

Music And The Brain

April 29, 2025

At Mounds Park Academy, music is much more than an extracurricular activity. It plays a vital part in a child’s cognitive and emotional development by engaging the brain in ways few other disciplines can. It sharpens memory, strengthens attention, and boosts language skills. But beyond academic growth, music also nurtures empathy, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence through composing, performing, or simply listening. This is why music plays an essential role in Mounds Park Academy’s whole child, progressive, college-preparatory curriculum, PreK through grade 12.

In a time when standardized testing is heavily emphasized and there are rising concerns about math and science scores within our nation, parents might question MPA’s emphasis on arts education. From the school’s founding, our curriculum has reflected an intentional balance between academics and the arts. Through new and emerging research, we now know they were correct.

Cognitive Benefits of Music Education

The Frontiers in Neuroscience article, “How Musical Training Affects Cognitive Development,” states that children exposed to musical training have better verbal memory, language pronunciation and accuracy, reading ability, and executive functions, because of how the brain processes sound. Nina Kraus, author of “Of Sound Mind,” said “People think of the hearing brain as being a silo within the brain. In fact, our hearing engages our cognitive, sensory, motor, and reward systems.” Music learning is so powerful because it engages every one of the above systems into a single activity. Kraus asks us to consider playing the violin. “To play the violin, a student coordinates their motor, cognitive, and sensory system to be able to put their fingers on the correct strings and move the bow at the right time; to read musical notes on a sheet of music and know what sounds they represent; and to hear if the pitches and rhythms are correct and coordinating with other players at the same time,” she goes on to say that this elicits a certain feeling from the student playing the music, which triggers the reward system within the brain. Engaging these different systems makes learning music one of the richest and deepest brain activities humans can perform. Simply put, “Teachers resoundingly tell me that children who participate in creating music do better in school,” Kraus states. Read More

Teaching And Learning

April 22, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the April 22 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

A few weeks ago, we shared the first video in our Head Of School Conversation series featuring both Dr. Bill Hudson and Dr. Lori-Anne Brogdon. They continue to work together closely as the head of school transition approaches in July, and we’re thrilled to share the second video in the series where they candidly talk about their work together.

Watch “A Head Of School Conversation: Teaching And Learning” here >

Set in the Makerspace, they cover the importance of curiosity, rigor with purpose, independent thinking, innovation, learning by doing, supportive teachers, and dreaming big.

“I think about soft skills that are now the necessary skills, and we talk a lot about challenge, and being able to fail, and being able to get picked back up again by those who are around you or even yourself,” says Dr. Brogdon. “We’re not willing to explore things that might seem scary or challenging if we don’t know somebody’s going to be around or that we have the stamina within us that someone has helped us to develop to move forward.” Read More

A Celebration Of Our Community’s Cultures

April 15, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the April 16 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

Last week, our community celebrated Cultural Celebration Day with a school-wide festival of cross-divisional activities, art, music, traditions, cuisine, and more.

The Family Commons was transformed not only into an exhibition of our community’s many cultures and heritages but also into a space for West African drum lessons, Myanmar’s New Year Festival dance, handmaking Chinese paper lanterns and Tibetan prayer flags, designing Henna body art, and learning the steps to Bhangra, an Indian folk dance. Passports in hand, visitors browsed station upon station, meeting a different person sharing their culture at each one. From Egypt to Italy and Thailand to France, we listened, we learned, and we became closer to one another through this special type of sharing that we value so deeply at MPA.

The strong sense of belonging at MPA fosters not only a welcoming and inclusive space for students and their families, but also encourages lifelong learning rooted in joy and curiosity. Cultural Celebration Day is just one example of our school being filled with the sound of laughter, music, and wonder. Read More