Upper School Archives

April 28, 2020

Meet 2019-20 Alumni Association Board member Isaac Marshall ’11!

After MPA, Isaac attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he closely studied health care delivery systems. He discovered a passion and interest that were key in making his career decisions later on. “I am inspired by professionals who have found mentors to engage their passions and expand their impact,” he said.

Isaac chose to pursue a position on the Alumni Association Board because he wants to help shape the future of MPA. Since graduating from MPA, he’s experienced the impact that his MPA education has had on his life. “From the first day of college and being prepared to write lengthy papers, to having professional confidence in my strengths, I can trace back several important traits to MPA and the learning that I engaged with there,” Isaac said.

Isaac sees himself supporting MPA both financially and in his role on the board. The “theme” of his support is directly related to MPA’s mission. Issac deeply believes that education is fundamental to growth and life-long success and life-long learning, and that MPA teaches these life-long skills in a way that produces learned and passionate students as each graduate goes out into the world and forges his or her own path. “I want to return to that organization that has impacted my path.”

Virtual Learning Extended And Refined

April 23, 2020

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

With the health and safety of all members of our community in mind, and in keeping with our commitment to follow the recommendation of the Governor and public health officials, I can now confirm that MPA will remain in virtual school through the end of the school year. This wasn’t an easy decision, as you might imagine. However, it is clear that it is not possible to return to on-campus school while maintaining the necessary social distancing and safety standards. I believe MPA is positioned to successfully navigate this crisis and emerge better and stronger than before. The strength of our community, the durable relationships we enjoy, our dedicated and exceptional faculty and staff, and our history, mission, and values will power us through what lies ahead.

Virtual School
As I said in the beginning, “first different, then better.” Modeling the resiliency we inspire in our students, we have been engaged in an ongoing process of designing, implementing, assessing, and adapting teaching and learning to meet the needs of our students. As we look ahead at the next eight weeks, modifications and refinements are necessary. The administration and faculty have taken to heart the advice of a seasoned head of school from New York City who successfully led his school in the aftermath of 9/11. He said that the ability to adapt is more important than the plan itself. I am so proud of our teachers for continuing to grow and evolve in this new environment. Read More

Virtual Learning Extended: Upper School Update

April 23, 2020

by Mark Segal, Upper School director

As we now transition to virtual school for the remainder of the academic year, the Upper School will make an important modification to our weekly schedule. Classes will continue to meet as they have on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but Wednesday will now be set aside as a work day. This iteration of the weekly schedule and educational program will allow us to meet the new and emerging needs of our students while at the same time maintaining our rigorous, college preparatory approach. Through this lens, Wednesday will not be a “day off,” rather it will be a day for students to connect with their teachers and one another to deepen the relationships and connections that are key to our MPA ethos.

This schedule adjustment will allow us to pause direct instruction and allow students the opportunity to digest the material taught and maintain the important social connections that are such a special part of the MPA experience. Wednesdays will provide time for students and teachers to preserve and maintain the continuity of learning through one-on-one and small group meetings to ensure that curricular concepts are understood by offering routine meeting times for students and allowing for clubs and organizations to meet. Read More

Spring Athletics And Summer Sports Camps Update

April 23, 2020

Consistent with the Executive Order issued on April 23, 2020 by Governor Walz that schools will remain closed through the end of the academic year, Mounds Park Academy is canceling spring sports for the 2020 season. This is not the information we hoped for. We are holding our students and their families in our minds and hearts, as we recognize the deep loss many are feeling.

To ensure the safety of campers and counselors, we are canceling summer sports camps scheduled for June (soccer camp and basketball camp). We are exploring the possibility of rescheduling the June sports camps to dates later in the summer. We plan to start scheduled summer sports camps on Monday, July 13 and continue them through Friday, July 26.

If you have any questions, please direct them to athletic director Dan Haase.

Thank You For Lighting Up The Night

April 23, 2020

Thanks to our incredibly generous community, the first-ever MPA Virtual Spring Auction: Light up the Night was a huge success! Our community joined together to raise nearly $230,000! MPA families, alumni, grandparents, parents of alumni, and friends joined together as a community to dream big, do right, and light up the world. Thank you for being part of the most successful auction in several years!

In case you missed our incredible live program featuring student performances, guest speakers, and exciting announcements, you can view a recording by clicking here.

Thanks to our community, we have gotten a jump start on our Community Care Fund. These flexible funds will allow us to respond to emerging needs, including:

financial assistance for MPA families in need;
technology access for teachers to continue enhancing virtual learning;
employee support funds for wellness and emergency resources; and
the cost of additional supplies to ensure a whole child education can continue, including art supplies, books and e-books, software and hardware, and devices for families without access to adequate technology or wi-fi for virtual learning.

Middle School Earth Day Celebrations

April 23, 2020

MPA Middle School students were enthusiastic to celebrate the 50th Earth Day on April 22. Dr. Milam challenged students to go outside to be in nature and take photographs, and students in Ms. Atchison’s class wrote poems honoring Earth. Get lost in their beautiful writing and enjoy a few of their poems.

“The Lilac” by Zain A.
The lilac that grew from the rocks,
did what it had to do
to grow its stalks.
Do you know what it went through
to accomplish that?

It had to work.
It pushed and pushed.
Till it became a plant.
Then it soaked and soaked in nutrients,
and with all that effort,
it was beautiful.

It wasn’t easy.
There were rocks piled on it.
and then some snow,
and then some drought.
It should have died.
There was so much to overcome,
but it stayed alive with its will to grow
and be beautiful.

And because of that, it grew.
It grew and grew until the winter came.
Afterwards, it pushed and pushed,
and soaked and soaked,
and became beautiful again. Read More

MPA Goes Virtual: Dhruv Muppidi

April 22, 2020

This story series illustrates how our community is embracing, growing, and connecting through virtual learning together. Read on to hear MPA junior Dhruv Muppidi’s experience as #MPAgoesvirtual!

Upon beginning virtual learning, Dhruv said he was feeling a little bit of anxiousness, but a lot of excitement. To establish a sense of normalcy, he’s been sticking to a familiar routine and curating a classroom space at home.

“It’s important to get into a regular schedule and stick to it. As much as this feels like a break, I believe it’s critical to treat this process as similarly as possible to a normal week at school,” Dhruv said. For him, that means setting an alarm to continue waking up at 6:30 AM and being ready promptly at 8 AM to tune into his Global Voices class. Read More

D-Day: A Single Story Of Valor

April 16, 2020

Upper School student Salmah Elmasry and history teacher Katie Murr would like to invite the MPA parent community to a presentation of their work with the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute. Last year, Salmah and Ms. Murr intensively studied D-Day and researched the story of one Minnesota soldier buried in the American National Cemetery in Normandy. The academic culmination of this process was to write a lengthy biography of that soldier that could be archived at the cemetery. Additionally, Salmah and Ms. Murr had the privilege of traveling first to Washington, DC to take classes at George Washington University and research at the National Archives and then to France where they were able to see the D-Day beaches and eulogize their solder at his gravesite. Salmah and Ms. Murr would love for you to hear this story of commitment, perseverance, and valor. Please join them on April 28 at 7 PM.

Join Zoom Meeting >
Meeting ID: 573 855 168
Password: 043853

Hate Is A Virus

April 16, 2020

The MPA Upper School Asian Culture Club, Social Consciousness Club, and Racial Justice and Equity Club met on Zoom to discuss how the language around COVID-19 can produce hate and racism. Students had the opportunity to share personal reflections anonymously, and the conversation will be a part of a continuing ‘series’ on the social and political impacts of this health crisis and a broader effort to document their responses. In this blog post, MPA senior Amanda Khouw shares how she is working and speaking out to eliminate stereotypes and misinformation.

Hate is a Virus.

COVID-19. The most recent pandemic of the 21st century. Who knew we would be living in a time of crisis? Not only does the virus spread fear and anxiety, but it also spreads racism. Lots and lots of racism. I would have never thought there would be a time that I would be scared to let my parents go out for daily groceries or even just outside to take the garbage out.

I grew up Asian-American. Normally, we do not discuss about our Asian race issues. Perhaps this may have stemmed from our cultural perspective of “keep moving forward” and “work hard for our elders”. There was not that much time for us to really talk about the racism that we have faced. I grew up with friends thinking that I eat cats and dogs. I grew up believing that I HAVE to be good at math. I grew up with the shame of being who I am–a Chinese-American. Read More

A Sense Of Community And Commitment To MPA

April 16, 2020

by MPA Spring Auction co-chairs Jennifer and Scott Holloway

When we began this school year with our daughter Grace embarking on her senior year at MPA, we could have never imagined how different school and life would be just a few short months later. We’ve been a part of many milestones at MPA, both as a family, and in the history of the school. One of the great joys we’ve had as parents and volunteers at MPA has been to serve as co-chairs of the Spring Auction for the past four years. Despite this history, this year has shaped up to feel like the first time all over again now that we’re offering our first ever virtual spring auction as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We can’t overstate the importance of our sense of community and commitment to MPA as it has given so much to our daughter and our family. We’ve often been asked why we continue to volunteer and urge others to do the same for the school we love. For us, it’s all about the sense of gratitude and appreciation that you can only understand when you’ve experienced the MPA way. Each year, we’ve witnessed the way that truly amazing things can happen when people join together in a common purpose. That might happen in a big banquet hall with fabulous decorations and amazing food, or it could happen on the basketball court, in the classroom, on stage, or now, in a virtual zoom room.

As co-chairs of this year’s auction, we urge you to join us for this special night. You can be a part of this event in whatever way is right for you: bid on our more than 130 auction packages, join our live Zoom program on Friday night at 6:30 featuring amazing students and guest speakers, share within your networks of family and friends to invite even more people to join in on this important fundraiser, or give at a level that is right for your family toward this year’s Fund-A-Need. Countless people have planned, donated, organized, and contributed in some way to what we’re sure is going to be another successful year. Please join us in building community and funding important needs for our students, faculty and staff, and incredible school. We can’t do it without you.