MKA's A Cappella group Remix, makes their debut performance at the 2017-2018 All-School Gathering with a rousing rendition of Rihanna's "What Now". To learn more about Remix visit www.mka-remix.com.

It was our pleasure that we were able to host 14 Chinese students visiting from Shanghai at MKA’s Upper School for the day. They were each paired with a Chinese language student who they shadowed throughout the day. The visiting students are currently involved in an exchange program and many of them are considering spending a semester or longer at a US school in the future. After school, they attended activities at the Asian Culture Society.

The Gathering is underway! Tune in at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsXaIIwuWYk

MKA's 24th annual All-School Gathering will be live streamed! Tune-in on Friday, September 29th starting at 9:00 a.m. Use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsXaIIwuWYk

In the Swift Playgrounds Flex class, MKA middle school students began learning Swift coding to guide a character through a 3D world. They tackled goals using the same code professional developers use every day. Students will continually build on what they’ve learned and create even more complex code using commands, functions, loops, parameters, conditional coding and variables.

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There was much enthusiasm and excitement during the Upper School's Student Life Fair. Over 60 clubs, CSIs, student publications, and other student organizations were represented. New organizations this year include MIT Launch, Robotics Team, Toni’s Kitchen, and MKA Greenhouse. Ninth graders and new students, in particular, enjoyed browsing the many offerings.

For MKA 4th graders, a quilt was the culmination of an examination of and conversation about the events leading up to the tragedy in Charlottesville. Students were asked to reflect on two Maya Angelou quotes as inspiration for their individual quilt designs.

On September 16th 2017 the Upper School's Fine and Performing Arts department kicked off their season with Arts Under the Stars, a full arts program in the school's newly built amphitheater. The night included Jazz Piano performances, performances from Chamber Singers, several select Strings performances, performances by our actors of select original short scenes, student artwork displays, and delicious refreshments. Over 150 people attended the event and witnessed the talent of the impressive student artists. Upper School Fine and Performing Arts Chair Nicole Hoppe said, "I love the casual nature of this event and the sense of community it provides. Everyone gathers around, some sitting on stone seats or picnic blankets, others standing, and catches up with each other while we change from one performance group to another. By the end of the night everyone agrees that they are excited for the year of arts events ahead."

The MKA Surfrider club started the year with 30 students and several faculty members volunteering to clean up the beach in Spring Lake, NJ. Thy picked up over 30 lbs of trash, consisting mostly of small plastic bits that are deadly to wildlife. Surfrider is a great organization and they gave us vital information to help us understand the meaning of our actions.

The Upper School's Environmental Science class took its annual trip to study the water quality of the nearby Peckman River. They found plenty of aquatic life, lots of dissolved oxygen, and cleaned up some “evidence of human presence.” Students get a lot out of this trip every time and soon will delve into analyzing the data we collected.

Congratulations to Bennett Knowles ’20 who won the 2017 NJ PGA Junior Tour’s 'Player of the Year' in the 11-15 year old division! He conquered tremendous feats this summer, and we are so proud!