The Conroy Distinguished Visitor regaled students with tales of his military service from the depths of the seas to the upper echelons of the U.S. government.
August 20, 2023
William Mao ’23 reflects on his four years at SPS.
BY JIM GRAHAM
As he advanced through photography classes during his four years at St. Paul’s School and prepared for a senior exhibit of his portfolio, William Mao ’23 realized that it’s impossible to fully see a picture until you step back and ponder it.
Perhaps a photo of a study lounge bathed in late afternoon sunlight evokes the weight of long days in a way that you hadn’t noticed before. An image showing the shadows of maple leaves on a classroom wall makes you realize how being immersed in nature is integral to learning and life at SPS. A casual snapshot of friends on the docks at Turkey Pond finds you reminiscing about how your form grew closer together, and then imagining the lives that you may share again in 10, 20, even 50 years when you return for Anniversary.
Mao sees his St. Paul’s School experience in this way.
“Going on runs and walks on the trails these past few weeks, sitting on the docks with my friends and really getting to know people, it makes me appreciate what an incredible and unique experience this really is,” Mao noted as he prepared his photo exhibit at the Crumpacker Gallery the week before graduation.
Mao says it was the people he met at SPS that he will remember most. And he counts the connections he made with fellow students and faculty mentors as important to his overall well-being and personal growth as it was to his success as a student, athlete and member of the SPS community.
— William Mao ’23
He arrived from San Francisco in the fall of 2019, excited by the academic challenges, and the chance to make friends from around the country and the world — but also daunted by the prospect of being so far from home and fitting in among so many confident, high-achieving classmates. Now, he’s graduated as one of the School’s top students and is bound for Harvard in the fall.
“I remember when I first moved in here and my parents left, and I’m thinking, ‘Okay, I’m here in New Hampshire, and they’re going to be on the other side of the country.’ ” Mao says. “Even though I knew I was in a unique and special place, it was still a little intimidating.”
But his classmates and the community soon put any jitters at ease, Mao says. By the time he graduated, he had been elected vice president of the Student Council; served as the photo editor and a writer for the School’s student newspaper, The Pelican; and had written and edited for The Partisan, an online publication of student editorials and columns across the political spectrum. He was captain of the cross country team and played varsity tennis and squash.
At graduation, Mao was awarded some of the School’s most prestigious honors: The Ellsworth Greenley Prize for excellence in artistic work; the Ambassador Duke Spanish Prize; and the Clifford Gillespie Medal for “honesty, integrity and eagerness to undertake the tasks, great and small, that make the School a better place.” He was recognized for perfect attendance throughout his four years and was one of eight students in the Form of 2023 elected to the Cum Laude Society as a Fifth Former.
Today, Mao says he has a deeper appreciation for why his father, John Mao ’87, remains so close with his formmates, and encouraged his son to apply to SPS.
“Whenever my family travels anywhere, it always seems like my dad will know someone from his time at St. Paul’s, and he’ll try to get together with them,” Mao says. “That’s always impressed me, how [he and his friends] have stayed in touch. So, I was really excited to take the leap and come here, too, because it felt like not only a great way to try new things but also to meet so many new people and make friends from all over the world.”
Mao says it was the people he met at SPS that he will remember most. And he counts the connections he made with fellow students and faculty mentors as important to his overall well-being and personal growth as it was to his success as a student, athlete and member of the SPS community.
In the process, Mao says SPS taught him valuable lessons.
“It’s about embracing the uncertainty of life,” he said. “My work here has been about stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things, without knowing how they will go, necessarily. This has been an incredibly valuable lesson for me, and one I hope to keep.”
