MPCS Alumni

The highest honor an MPCS alum can receive is the Alumnus/Alumna of the Year award. It is awarded annually and is presented to a most-deserving alum at halftime of the homecoming football game each autumn. Feedback for this award is received from the MPCS administration, the Alumni Council, and the alumni community at-large. The criteria for this award are based on the following:

• Faithfully lives out the mission of Mount Paran Christian School by being a servant-leader who honors God, loves others, and walks in Truth.
• Demonstrates integrity, a commitment to scripture, service to the body of Christ, and is a blessing to others.
• Bears Fruits of the Spirit in their daily walk: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
• Successful and highly respected by their peers in their chosen profession.
• Demonstrates a willingness to give back to MPCS with his or her service, time, and/or resources.

Click here to nominate an alumnus/alumna for the Alumnus/Alumna of the Year award.

The "MACkie" Award, so named for the Murray Arts Center (lovingly referred to as “The MAC”), serves as a vehicle to annually honor the people of MPCS who have leveraged their artistic and arts-minded gifts to make a difference in the world, be it locally or afar; vocational or avocational; in front of millions or by oneself in a practice room; sacred or secular. We wish to recognize the power of the arts through MPCS, the lives it changes, and the stories that are told to change the world.

The MACkie award, which is presented each spring during the Spring Social & Supper, is itself a stylized glass-blown figure with arms lifted towards the heavens. The colors within the glass symbolize both Old and New Testament ideals: the blue represents the infallible word of God that exists within each of us from our training, and the green conveys life and resurrection.

The MACkie award represents each of us - we are all like glass, delicate and translucent. With God’s word and redemptive hope embedded within, we emanate His goodness and example from the inside out so that all of our actions become a point of worship to God the Father.

Criteria for nomination and selection are as follows:

• An MPCS graduate who participated in MPCS arts programs
• Established in the “the real world” of the arts as either a performer, educator, designer, technician, engineer, or other arts-related venture

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of Lord Jesus...” (Col. 3:17)

The Distinguished Athletic Alumnus/Alumna of the Year award is presented annually during Hoopcoming, the winter alumni event.

This award is given to an alumnus/alumna who is working in a sports/athletic field and meets the criteria as follows:

• Continues to faithfully live out the mission of Mount Paran Christian School by honoring God, loving others, and walking in Truth
• Successful in his/her chosen profession that relates to athletics (e.g. professional athlete, sports management, coaching, sports medicine, sports broadcasting)
• Gives back to the athletic alumni community through student mentorship, speaking engagements, facility enhancements, coach mentoring, or other areas of enhancement
• Demonstrates integrity in their given profession

He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12)

Each year, MPCS recognizes a well-deserving alumnus/alumna who has faithfully carried through with the school’s mission statement. This recognition takes place at the annual Family Serve Chapel each spring.

The criteria for this award are as follows:

• Continues to faithfully live out the mission of Mount Paran Christian School by being a servant-leader who honors God, loves others, and walks in Truth
• Possesses the heart, head, hands, and habits of a servant- leader (Blanchard and Hodges)
• Extraordinarily serves the local community in which he/she lives, whether in a volunteer or paid position
• Advances the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ by serving others
• Demonstrates integrity in his/her service to others
• Lives out the call of Micah 6:8 to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly and faithfully with the God of Jesus Christ

Alumni Association President: Caroline Bradford '03
Alumni Vice President: Wes Watt '09 
MPCS Alumni Relations Manager: John Braswell

Caroline Bradford '03 was elected by the MPCS Alumni Leadership Council to serve as its President through June 30, 2021.

The Vice President position will be open as of July 1, 2021, with reworked duties and responsibilities for this growing volunteer opportunity.

Plans and executes all alumni events.

Enhances communications within the alumni community and between the alumni community and the school, typically involving social media and digitized MPCS media platforms such as the MPCS Network.

Strategically reaches out to alumni, encouraging support of the school mission by creating alumni engagement opportunities.

Any MPCS alumnus/alumna interested in serving on the alumni council may submit an application or contact the Alumni Relations Manager or the President of the Executive Council.

Any member interested in serving on the Alumni Council must be in good standing with the Alumni Association and must make a commitment to attending a minimum of three of the four quarterly meetings (virtual or in-person) and attend two of the three campus alumni events during the school year. The term for an Alumni Council member is one year, with a renewed commitment for each following year, should the alumnus/alumna choose so. Each year of service begins on July 1 and ends June 30 of the following year. 

Matt Rooke '04 has served on the Alumni Council Outreach Committee since 2018. He has been married to Caroline for ten years, and the couple has three boys: Jude, 7, Titus, 5 , and Samuel, 4. Matt and Caroline are expecting their fourth child in the spring of 2021.

Matt is an Auburn University graduate, earning a B.S. in Exercise Science and a Masters degree in Exercise Science, with a focus in Biomechanics. He currently is employed at Eastside Christian School as a middle school math teacher, in addition to coaching cross country, basketball, and soccer. Matt serves as a deacon at Eastside Baptist Church.

Matt attended MPCS from grades 3-12. His older brother, Ben, also graduated from MPCS, and his youngest brother, Mark, attended MPCS for several years. Matt’s mother, Mrs. Sharon Rooke, was an English teacher in the high school for many years before retiring.

Matt says that his life scripture is Philippians 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." He highly recommends the book The Boy Crisis by Warren Farrell and John Gray.

Regarding the growth of the alumni program, Matt says, “I’d like to double our size, with multiple committees that control multiple events and venues. I'd like a representative from every class within four years of each other. I’d like to get my 2004 class and the ones before me and after me to get more involved in homecoming and other alumni events.”

When reflecting on his time at MPCS, Matt is deeply convicted about the impact attending MPCS had upon his life: “The direct attention from teachers and influence from Godly men and women in my life gave me the example of what a workman not ashamed of the gospel looked like. To have Godly advisors that poured into my life shaped what my future as a teacher looks like today. I am now getting the opportunity to influence others in a Christian school setting, and I am recalling the interactions of my youth with my teachers at MPCS, while building my career off of those examples.”

Matt has always, even to this day, stated that he was the very favorite student of John Braswell, his teacher in middle school and now the Alumni Relations Manager at MPCS!