Faculty Relations, Interview with Mr. Hopkins

Writer: Annika Binstadt

This fall, as with any fall, MPA welcomed many new faces to our community. Throughout the next few issues, interviews with new faculty and staff will be included in the Faculty Relations portion of this paper to help the student body get to know them. Among the new-comers this year was physical education teacher and girls basketball coach Chris Hopkins (he/him/his), or, as he prefers to be called by students, Mr. Hopkins or Coach Hopkins.

Q: What are your favorite things about MPA thus far? What made you want to teach here?

A: A couple of my favorite things about MPA are the people. I work with great people and we have great conversations about a lot of different topics. My other favorite thing is seeing how much responsibility the Upper School students have. Students do a great job of advocating for themselves while having the freedom like they would on a college campus. MPA is a special place and I wanted to become a part of its welcoming community, especially after kind of seeing it from afar while coaching track here a few years back.

Q: What is a winter or holiday tradition you are excited to celebrate this year?

A: My favorite holiday tradition is cutting down a tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with my family.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Our family has a dog and a cat. Our dog’s name is Robbie and he is a breed of his own. Imagine a Rottweiler with half of its legs (he’s part Bassett hound and Golden Retriever as well). Our cat’s name is Riley but its name has transitioned to Zha Zha after our kids called it that.

Q: What made you interested in physical education, working in a school, or working with kids? What is your favorite thing about this career path?

A: My Dad was a PE teacher and coach. I’ve followed in his footsteps in almost every way imaginable. Seeing and helping children grow up to become functional members of society is one of my favorite things about teaching.

Thank you to Mr. Hopkins for this interview, we are all excited to have you as a member of our community!