{"id":24260,"date":"2023-09-28T10:45:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T15:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=24260"},"modified":"2023-09-28T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T16:38:42","slug":"homecoming-is-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2023\/09\/28\/homecoming-is-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Homecoming Is For Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"from Bill Hudson, head of school<\/strong><\/p>\n

The energy in the building has been ramping up all week as we celebrate Homecoming. Students have been enjoying a series of special events, coloring contests, themed dress-up days, and assemblies. In many schools, this is associated with a Friday night football game and alumni events. At MPA, Homecoming is for everyone and is a week-long celebration of affinity for the school that includes all members of the school community\u2014students in grades PreK-12, parents, alumni, parents of alumni, and friends.<\/p>\n

For many students, MPA is a second home to them. Throughout the fall, I invite seniors to have lunch with me in small groups of 10-12. Over lunch, I ask the seniors to share their \u201cMPA Moment,\u201d an experience that encapsulates the essence of MPA. Inevitably, they talk about the sense of family they feel, the strong relationships they have with their teachers, and how much they belong at MPA.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, I read the book, \u201cBowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community\u201d by Robert Putnam. The title may seem strange but bowling alone serves as a metaphor for the loss of community in American society. In the 1990\u2019s and 1980\u2019s, bowling was the fastest-growing sport in the United States, all the while participation in bowling leagues dropped precipitously. Putnam found that fewer people are participating in social clubs, attending church, and even having dinner together as a family.<\/p>\n

The decline of community at the end of the 20th century has only worsened over the last 20 years. According to Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, \u201cApproximately half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, with some of the highest rates among young adults.\u201d The surgeon general recently released a report, \u201cOur Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General\u2019s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community,\u201d in which he provides research on the harmful effects of loneliness. \u201cLoneliness is far more than just a bad feeling\u2014it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.\u201d Over the last two decades, there has been an \u201cincrease of 24 hours per month Americans spent alone. At the same time, social participation across several types of relationships has steadily declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

The antidote to the pandemic of loneliness is social connectivity, and schools play an important role in fostering connection and community. In homeroom, advisory groups, and classrooms across grade levels, MPA students come to know one another and their teachers quite well. School-wide events like Homecoming, the Upper School Monday Meeting, clubs and sports teams, and cross-grade-level pairing assemblies, just to name a few, build community and create a shared identity. Our students recognize and value the strong, positive school culture of MPA. For instance, a survey of all Upper School students last year found that the vast majority of students reported high levels of belonging and feeling safe at school.<\/p>\n

For adults, volunteering is a remedy for loneliness. MPA parents are always welcome at school, and there are many ways to be involved, including the Parents Association, mystery readers in Lower School, grade-level gatherings, and many more. For instance, I partnered with the Parents Association to offer an MPA book club for parents. This summer, a group of parents gathered with me in the backyard of a Middle School parent\u2019s home overlooking White Bear Lake to discuss \u201cThe House in the Cerulean Sea\u201d over hors d\u2019oeuvres and adult beverages.<\/p>\n

I encourage you to consider participating in Homecoming this year. You are invited to attend the Homecoming Assembly for grades 3-12 Friday afternoon in the Lansing Sports Center. Saturday is a day full of special events and sporting competitions for students of all grade levels and their parents. Some volunteer opportunities are still available. Our Homecoming theme this year is \u201cWild with Panther Pride,\u201d and I invite you to revel in the sense of community at MPA and help us all overcome a pandemic of loneliness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from Bill Hudson, head of school The energy in the building has been ramping up all week as we celebrate Homecoming. Students have been enjoying a series of special events, coloring contests, themed dress-up days, and assemblies. In many schools, this is associated with a Friday night football game and alumni events. At MPA, Homecoming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28,24,14,29,9,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-school","category-current-families","category-featured-posts","category-heads-message","category-homepage","category-lower-school","category-middle-school","category-upper-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26415,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24260\/revisions\/26415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}