{"id":28475,"date":"2025-05-22T13:28:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T18:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=28475"},"modified":"2025-05-22T13:29:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T18:29:19","slug":"living-out-our-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2025\/05\/22\/living-out-our-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Out Our Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28550 alignright img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/nclhx5yj.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/wpstory-1.jpg\" alt=\"Senior explaining her senior service project to a visitor\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/>This message is from MPA\u2019s Office of Admission from the May 22 issue of Inside MPA. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/learn-more\/\">Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Since our founding, MPA\u2019s mission statement has been simple, but powerful: \u201cWe 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.\u201d 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\u2013not for reward or recognition, but because it\u2019s the right thing to do and helps improve our community both locally and globally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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,\u201d says MPA senior Lizzie Moldan about her work with Solid Ground. \u201cI also really like working with kids, and this opportunity to tutor made me realize that even more than I did before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019re part of and learn the power of empathy, leadership, and building positive relationships.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough this process, I have learned so many things about myself and the world. I learned the fundamentals of water filtration and how to build the systems, but most importantly, I got exposed to a drastically different country and culture, which changed my perspective on the world,\u201d shares senior Delaney Cunnington about her senior service project with Living Waters For The World.<\/p>\n<p>A culture of mutual respect and a commitment to meaningful service prepare students to be responsible global citizens. By fostering engagement, leadership, and a strong sense of community, MPA helps students grow into thoughtful, capable individuals who are ready to make a positive impact in the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/moundsparkacademy.padlet.org\/communications\/class-of-2025-senior-service-projects-1ra6s25k85vfjkxl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">Take a look at the Class of 2025\u2019s reflections on their senior service projects here!<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\r\n<div class=\"next-steps row\">\r\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\"><a class=\"btn btn-block btn-green\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/about-mpa\/\r\n\">About MPA <\/a><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\"><a class=\"btn btn-block btn-gold\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/learn-more\/\">Request Information <\/a><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\"><a class=\"btn btn-block btn-blue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/apply-now\/\">Apply Today <\/a><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This message is from MPA\u2019s 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\u2019s mission statement has been simple, but powerful: \u201cWe teach students to think independently, communicate effectively, and act with respect and integrity in a diverse [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":28551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,26,28,10030,24,29,8127,9,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admission","category-blog","category-current-families","category-deb","category-featured-posts","category-homepage","category-international","category-lower-school","category-middle-school","category-upper-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28475","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28475"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28553,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28475\/revisions\/28553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}