Alumni Experience Archives

September 24, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally? I graduated from college last spring, and I am applying to medical school for the fall of 2019. However, I am currently spending two gap years abroad in the southern French port city of Marseille, where I’m taking full advantage of all the opportunities this city and country have to offer. I spend two days a week working as an English language assistant for a preschool and primary school, where I teach English lessons to little ones. When I’m not in the schools, I’m either in the hospital or laboratory and take part in a weekly shadowing internship with a French neonatologist. I’ve even started to sit in on births in the operating and delivery rooms! I also volunteer weekly at another local children’s hospital, where I play board games with patients. The rest of my time is spent working in a neuroscience lab at the local university, where I will start conducting spatial navigation experiments on rats. The best part of my time in France is that I can do all of things I love in the clinical and laboratory settings all while speaking French!

How did you get there? Where did you attend college? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you? I received my undergraduate degree from Barnard College, the women’s college of Columbia University in New York City, where I majored in neuroscience and behavior and minored in French. I spent one semester abroad in France in a program that emphasized cultural integration into the community and placed me in a homestay. This experience solidified my decision to take a few years off before medical school and return to France to seek opportunities to interact with people different than myself. I am adamant that homestays are one of the best ways to learn about and live like the local population. Read More

Meet Hodan Saeed ‘13

August 28, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally? Currently, I am a Cognitive Process Re-engineering Consultant at IBM. I work in the Financial Services sector and work to implement IBM technology services like Blockchain, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence to large commercial businesses around the world.

How did you get there? Where did you attend college? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you? I went to American University in Washington D.C. to study International Relations with a Focus in Global Economics and a minor in Finance. Every semester and summer in College, I completed various internships to really figure out what I wanted to do career-wise. During my last year of college, I interned at Eureka Network, an inter-governmental organization funded by the European Commission that funds small technology R&D projects across Europe.

Meet Kate Thrane ’16

July 31, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally? I am spending this summer in Washington D.C. working as an intern in Minnesota Congressman Erik Paulsen’s office. I’m learning so much about government and democracy. My responsibilities include answering constituent phone calls, running errands, attending hearings, writing memos, and giving tours of the Capitol. Through my internship, I’ve been able to attend events at the FBI, “The Washington Post,” and the White House. One of my favorite parts is seeing people who are on the news (or in the news) in person!

Meet Morgan Emmans ’15

June 13, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?

Currently I am attending St. Cloud State University, where I am majoring in Elementary Education and minoring in Human Relations. I am a member and captain of the softball team at St. Cloud State. This fall, I will be entering my senior year at St. Cloud State. Over the summer, I am coaching the 12U Silver Bullets softball team, and ironically, MPA student, Siri S. is one of my players.

How did you get there? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you?

Meet Teja Upadhyaya ’17

April 19, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?

I am currently a freshman at the University of Minnesota. In addition to this, I am a 4/C Marine Corps option Midshipmen at the NROTC unit here with a commissioning date of May 2021. After commissioning I will serve as a 2nd LT in the United States Marine Corps

How did you get there? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you?

MPA inspired me to think about the bigger picture and this was the driving force that inspired me to enter military service. Through MPA I learned to love education which is why I decided to go down the officer route.

Meet Kelsey LaValle ’05

April 19, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?

I’m a stay-at-home mom who is active in volunteering at my kids’ school as well as serving on the Mardag Foundation Board.

How did you get there?

I pursued some programs at St. Paul College (Massage and Esthetics), however I decided that my priority was with my family when I got pregnant and never made it into the field.

How did your MPA experience prepare you for your life today? How did MPA help you dream big and do right?

MPA taught me the value of a good education with caring teachers and how a tight knit community is so important.

What’s next? Any aspirations-personal or professional-that you’d like to share?

I’d like to grow in my position with Mardag and possibly pursue a para position in our school district when all my kids are in school.

Meet Andrew Grant ’15

April 19, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?

I am currently in my third year at Vanderbilt University, studying Earth & Environmental Science. This past November through January, I was fortunate enough to participate in the United States Antarctic Program. The purpose of our project was to collect ice core from a body of ancient glacial ice that is preserved under a layer of till. Now, I am San Francisco on the first part of a study abroad program looking at the politics of climate change–specifically food, water, and energy. Over the course of my semester with SIT we will be traveling to Vietnam, Morocco, and Bolivia. I am very fortunate.

Meet Greta Stacy ’11

April 12, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?
I am currently teaching IB Chemistry at Academia Cotopaxi American International School in Quito, Ecuador.

How did you get there? Where did you attend college? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you?
I graduated from Smith College in 2015 with degrees in American studies and chemistry. After Smith, I moved back to Minnesota to pursue my initial license in 9-12 chemistry with the Twin Cities Teacher Collaborative (TC2). This experimental teacher training program provided me with the course work for my license and a yearlong residency experience instead of the traditional student teaching. In this program, I taught at St. Paul Central for one year. Then, I moved to Ecuador and began teaching at Academia Cotopaxi. I completed my MAT through Hamline University this fall, and my final project focused on the integration of the nature of science into the IB chemistry syllabus. I hope to present this research over the summer at the IB World Conference in San Diego. Read More

Meet Lesley Kroupa ’97

March 19, 2018

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?
I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in nutrition and public health at Teachers College, Columbia University.

How did you get there? Where did you attend college? Are there some career moves or other key experiences or relationships that have inspired you?
After practicing business law in New York City for 11 years and participating in triathlons and marathons in my spare time, I decided to change careers to pursue my passion for nutrition and fitness. My goal is to combine my legal experience with my nutrition and public health studies to explore ways to promote healthy eating through public policy.

How did your MPA experience prepare you for your life today? How did MPA help you dream big and do right?
As an MPA “lifer” I grew up in the halls of MPA and am continually grateful to the teachers and staff who made it such a thoughtful, empowering, and enriching community. I have no doubt that the lessons from MPA to dream big and do right helped spur my decision to make a career change and pursue a new path.

This story is part of a new series called The Year of 100 Stories, launched by the Mounds Park Academy Alumni Association in January 2018. All alumni are warmly invited to tell their story! Email alumni@moundsparkacademy.org for more information.

Meet Rachel Katar ’02

February 22, 2018

Rachel Katar is a member of the Mounds Park Academy Class of 2002.

What are you currently doing, professionally and/or personally?
My husband and I are expecting our first baby in April. I am a middle school science teacher and dorm parent for high schoolers at The Masters School in New York. My favorite part of my job is seeing students set up their own experiments to test ideas and learn more about how the world works.

How did you get there? Where did you attend college? Are there key experiences or relationships that have inspired you?
I took a circuitous route to become a teacher. My mother was a band director in the Roseville schools, my father taught at the University of Minnesota Medical School on occasion, and both my grandmother and my grandfather were teachers. So, naturally, I did not want to become a teacher. When I told my grandmother what I was doing for work though, she replied, “That sounds a lot like teaching to me….” During my college years at Lawrence University and St. Olaf College, I volunteered for Biology Club to teach the water cycle to elementary students. After graduating, I worked at the Science Museum of Minnesota teaching cell biology principles to high school students, so they could in turn teach over 50,000 museum visitors yearly. I then worked at the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities to manage Youth in Government, Leadership Team, and the Achievers college readiness programs. At Saint Paul Public Schools Community Education, I doubled the science and music class offerings for preschool through high school age students. I even saw Mr. Thompson (MPA faculty member) while planting native plants with students along the Keller Lake shoreline.