f r o m t h e h e a d m a s t e r Letter from the Headmaster

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0 I When I start to describe any aspect o f the MKA program, I am reminded that our students never experience ju st one part o f the curriculum at a time. All o f it - the arts, athletics and physical education, math, science, the humanities - is in motion together. MKA is committed to providing our students with an array o f opportunities characterized by coherence over time, and great breadth and depth.

'...«aThere are moments when our work and purpose are in full evidence. Often, it is a performance, an athletic contest or a concert when the growth and multi-faceted talents of our students are before us. We see the same young man or young woman on stage in a concert, then on a court or field in team play, and again in a classroom engaged and well-prepared. I am often in awe of what our students accomplish and deeply proud of the teachers and coaches who work with them.

Our most public classrooms are in the fine and performing arts and in athletics. There, the level of mastery of each student is on display and we can even witness the interactions between teachers, coaches and their students. The daily experience of those teachers and coaches is a high wire act because so much of their work with students occurs before an audience. When a student takes the field or stage at MKA, I often wonder about all of the effort, learning and teaching that have brought him or her to such a moment.

This issue of The Review highlights our athletic program. The Inter- scholastic sport program begins in 6th grade and unfolds to include twenty-four varsity level teams at the Upper School. The program philosophy evolves from a Middle School emphasis on participation n K I M BP£> to an Upper School commitment to foster competitive and high-level play for success in our conference and preparation for college athletics. Time and again, our teams exemplify the ideal that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Watching our students compete is one of the best parts of my job, and nothing is more exciting than those matches, meets and games whereby through conditioning, training, talent and teamwork our students prevail against their toughest opponents.

review spring 2010

w h o w o r k w ith them .

An exceptional school must strive to be worthy of its students and at MKA this responsibility takes shape in many forms. Across the school, Trustees, administrators, teachers, directors, coaches and advisors are always engaged in the effort to make a great school even better: a carefully considered new athletic conference for Upper School, a 1:1 technology initiative for students in grades |P12, the introduction of Chinese to the foreign language program, an unparalleled commitment to each teacher’s professional growth and development, unprecedented developments in tools for Trustee governance, and a new standing faculty committee for the Integration of Ethics into school life are among MKA’s most significant and forward- looking efforts.

In this, and much else, our students are an inspiration for all of us who work with them. Warmest regards,

Thomas W. Nammack Headmaster 3

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If you couldn’t make it last year, be sure not to miss it this year ...

The Alumni Council’s hugely successful

from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14

review spring 2010