New MPA video - Lego Magic!

Presidents on display

Ever wonder what happened to Dr. Hronek's Presidents display?  Go to the Westlake Porter Public Library before the end of April you will see an even bigger collection - three times larger than the previous version, and filled with many artifacts and books about the Presidents.  It's a great spring activity for those of you who can't get to Washington, D.C.!

Arts Fair - A Great Success!

The 1st Annual Menlo Park Academy Arts Fair was held April 10, 2011 and was a wonderful time for all! Created to highlight the students talents in the arts, specifically the visual arts and performance, the event was created and run by a small team of parent volunteers co-chaired by Melanie Nealis and Jill Milenski and supported by Ms. DeCapite (art teacher) and Ms. Leib (music teacher).




Adults and children listened intently to the youthful sounds of 24 musicians performing on piano, violin, trumpet, drums, flute and voice throughout the building, hallways, library and the gym stage. Crowds could also be found gathered around a dancer, poet, and some hip hop dancers/musicians.

"Wax Figure Artists" were stationed throughout the school in a "frozen" position" until you drop a coin into their box. They would then come alive and tell you something about themselves and give you the opportunity to guess who they were portraying. These students had chosen to research and dress up as a famous artist or composer and included artists such as Leonardo da Vinci.


Artwork from all art classes and electives were beautifully arranged throughout the building and is still on display for all who visit the school. The day came to an end with an ice cream social and many smiles. Plans are already underway for the next years event with hopes to incorporate the "Wax Figure Artist" element into the school's curriculum and involve even more students.

Lego Olympiad results

A big thanks to all the parents, volunteers, and teachers who made the LEGO Olympiad not only a success but also an extremely fun and exciting day! We had 86 students attend the event, and 8 teams won awards in the Open Build Division. 




Please join me in congratulating the following Menlo students who placed in the event:

1st Place, PreK-Grade 1
Team 5
Katie Love
Olivia Schauss
Linsay Homolka
Claire Coleman
Eliza Wegner

3rd Place, PreK-Grade 1
Team 4
Bradley Hofstetter
Maura Ingraham
Lilly Ross
Michael Smith

1st Place, Grade 2
Team 7
Ben Dawson
Jakob Syracuse
Stavros Ananiadis
Isaac Hubbard

1st Place, Grade 3
Team 11
Gabe Payne
Matt Harrington
Sam Peacock

Ryan Sluder

3rd Place, Grade 3
Team 12 (pictured at right)
Kelsey Watson
Carolyn Homolka
Elizabeth Coleman
Taylor Heckel
Noelle Harrington

1st Place, Grade 5
Team 17
Zasca Ristianto
Kehley Coleman
Teresa Szczecinski
Alexandra Harrison
Delilah Stack

2nd Place, Grade 6
Team 23 (WWII-Era Tank)
Nicholas Hiti (Euclid - pictured at right)

1st Place, Grade 7
Team 20 (Amusement Park with Shooting Gallery)
Quintin Kovach (Westlake)
John Antolik (Cleveland Heights)
Aidan Harrington (Avon)
Fox Milenski (Lakewood)

Columbus Children's Theatre Visits Menlo Park Academy

Columbus Children's Theatre is coming to Menlo Park Academy on Tuesday, April 12th! In the morning (9am), they will be performing Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem, a performance based on six original stories created by students in Ohio grades K-6. Later (1pm), they will be performing The Three Little Pigs.

For more information on the group, please visit their website at http://colschildrenstheatre.org/touring/touring.html

They have a great way of describing their very entertaining events!

MPA musicians entertain seniors, warm hearts

Tuesday the musicians from MPA did a beautiful job performing for the audience of seniors at the day care center.  The violin ensemble performed the first set of pieces, the choir performed their pieces and the violin soloists closed the program. The audience received them warmly and the students performed with grace and poise!  

After they performed, each student went into the audience to say a personal greeting to each senior, many students shaking their hands and offering a warm word.  It was such a joy to see them interacting with the seniors and so appreciated.  Thank-you so much for your support and for helping the students practice their music and to get their instruments to school, both for the elective classes, rehearsals and the performances.

There was one senior in the audience that had lost her ability to speak, due to dementia.  Most of the time, she sat still in her chair, staring forward and unresponsive.  When the children performed, she was smiling and tapping her foot gently.  Afterwards, she sat still again, staring and not able to speak.  For one hour today, the children were able to give this lady so much joy, despite the progression of her dementia.  It made me, once again, aware of the importance of music in stimulating memory and emotions.  Music has been used as a powerful tool in therapy with people with Alzheimer's type dementia. Music was today, for our MPA musicians and for the seniors at this facility, a universal, multi-cultural, multi- generational language.

Musically yours,

Ardis Billey

NY Times Best-Selling Author Visits Menlo Park Academy

New York Times best-selling author, Cinda Williams Chima, is coming to Menlo Park on April 1st. She will meet with fifth, sixth and seventh grade students for an overview and then do individual workshops with each grade.

"Chima grew up with talking animals and kick-butt Barbies. She began writing romance novels in junior high school. Her Heir Chronicles young adult contemporary fantasy series includes The Warrior Heir (2006), The Wizard Heir (2007), and The Dragon Heir (2008), all from Hyperion, with two more books forthcoming. Chima’s best-selling YA high fantasy Seven Realms series launched with The Demon King (2009), followed by The Exiled Queen (September, 2010) with The Gray Wolf Throne scheduled for fall, 2011."

Find Chima online at www.cindachima.com or http://cindachima.blogspot.com/

Hands-on Science Happenings - 6th Grade

The 6th grade will be going on a field trip this week to Hawken School's University Circle Campus at Gries House to participate in an energy workshop designed for middle schoolers. They will be learning about all forms of energy as well as about energy conservation and the need to develop alternative energy sources. Their workshop is based on a curriculum by the Ohio Energy Project. You can learn more about it at http://www.ohioenergy.org/

Look what we've been up to!

Thanks to the Sun Herald for the photo (and the press)!

Breaking news - Spelling Bee Winner!

Congratulations to third grader Hunter Caraballo, winner of the school-wide spelling bee!