Hayden Schwabe, Lucas Pesotine, Dante DeStefano, and Josh Hoover stand behind their 2025 capstone project while MMI’s Board Chair Attorney Richard A. DiLiberto Jr ’79 tests out their vehicle.
MMI Preparatory School will be unveiling a completely redesigned Open House on Sunday, March 22, 2026. The new event will transform what was once a more traditional display day into a dynamic, school-wide collaborative showcase of interdisciplinary learning, mentorship, and public presentation.
For decades, MMI’s Open House has featured individual or small group student projects displayed at the School each March. While meaningful, the old format did not fully reflect MMI’s collaborative teaching model or the real-world skills students build daily. A faculty cohort of Mr. Tony Bianco, Dr. Lisa Ferry, Dr. Heather Grimm, Mrs. Laurie Mele, and Mrs. Christina Spencer met over the summer and redesigned the experience thanks to a Faculty Curriculum Collaboration Grant funded by Dr. Philip McHale ’58 and Ms. Linda Tishko. All expenses associated with the revamp are also being funded through the generosity of Dr. McHale and Ms. Tishko.
“Open House has always been one of our most visible traditions,” said Head of School Mrs. Theresa Long. “This reimagined version turns that tradition into a living demonstration of how MMI teaches: through collaboration, inquiry, mentorship, and authentic public presentation. I’m deeply grateful to the faculty team who led this work, and to Dr. McHale and Ms. Tishko for funding the time needed to innovate.”
Beginning this year, every grade level will participate in a coordinated interdisciplinary project. Sixth and ninth-grade students will collaborate on a joint STEM Fair, with ninth graders mentoring sixth graders through research and experimentation. Seventh and tenth graders will partner on multicultural studies built from shared country assignments, library-based research, and hands-on creation through art and in MMI’s Makerspace. Eighth and eleventh graders will co-design food-based projects that extend into the community through a Veterans Day Breakfast and a Spaghetti Dinner. Twelfth graders will continue to complete senior capstones that synthesize their academic experience, but will also now include a live, oral presentation component.
Work on these projects is already underway. This fall, MMI restructured its weekly Monday Activity Period, which is held from 2:15 to 3:00 p.m., to function as a dedicated Open House work block. During this time, students meet with their assigned faculty advisors and cohorts to conduct research, plan deliverables, and build out their projects. This protected, school-day collaboration period ensures that the Open House is not a one-week push in March, but a year-long, integrated academic experience.
Additional features of the redesigned event include the creation of freshman/senior bonding classes that grow out of the collaboration groupings; a passport-style scavenger hunt on March 22 that encourages engagement for our visitors with each project; and School-wide design contests to select the official Open House t-shirt and passport booklet.
The impact of the redesign is both academic and cultural. Every student now engages in meaningful interdisciplinary work that blends shared group research with an individual component or display, resulting in projects that are both collaborative and personally owned. Cross-grade mentorship is built into the structure, and public presentation becomes an expectation for all. The event itself showcases MMI’s teaching philosophy in action. The inaugural reimagined Open House will debut Sunday, March 22, 2026, and will be open to the public.
