Camila Capdevila ’25 reflects on her journey from first-generation student to All-American athlete at St. Paul’s School.
June 18, 2025
For Kevin Wu ‘25, it’s been four years of joy, experience and community.
BY IAN ALDRICH
Kevin Wu ‘25 isn’t one to shy away from thinking and talking about big topics. Creating a good life, building strong communities — these were the themes the student body president tackled in early April when he welcomed admitted students to St. Paul’s School during morning chapel.
“A thriving community, a beloved community, is a place where everyone is able to share their lived core values with each other and learn from each other to build onto each other’s core values,” Wu said. He continued: “Each one of us arrives here with a story, each one of us carries a set of values shaped by our families, our cultures, our setbacks and our dreams.”
The Sixth Former spoke from experience. Born in China, Wu was four years old when his family immigrated to Toronto, Canada, drawn in no small part by the opportunities that came with a Western education. As his family straddled their old and new lives, Wu understood the sacrifices his parents made for him and his two older siblings. His father remained in China for much of the year in order to continue his job, missing birthdays and school events, while his mother largely helmed the parental duties on her own. Wu marvels at what they accomplished.
“Among Asian families who’ve immigrated to America or Canada, there are always these conversations about assimilation and integration,” Wu says. “I think my parents found a perfect balance between our Chinese backgrounds and our new life in Toronto. I’m really grateful for all the experiences I had, but it came because of all the hard work my parents put in to raise us.”
“[Music is] sort of a chance to reflect on what I’m feeling. If I’m playing a piece of Mozart, it’s very joyous and happy, and that makes me reflect on the happy moments in my life and what I’m thankful for.”
For Wu, who is fluent in both Mandarin and French, the support of his parents included a deep allowance to pursue his curiosities. By his own account, Wu arrived at SPS as a Third Former on the shy side, likely to keep to himself and hunker down in his room in between classes or meals. But as he settled into the community, new sides of his identity began to emerge. He played basketball his first year, then moved on to wrestling the following winter. Over his entire four years at SPS he has been a mainstay on the football and crew teams.
“[Rowing] is now probably my favorite sport,” he says. “Trying new things and being with the people that I’ve grown close to at St. Paul’s has brought me out of my comfort zone.”
His interests have also ventured far beyond athletics. Starting as a Fourth Former, Wu found his stage presence through the Winter Term Student-Directed One-Acts, which showcase the collaboration of different student actors, directors, playwrights and stage managers. Wu has acted in several productions, including this year’s comedy, “Rehearsal Gone Wrong.”
“I like the confidence theater has given me,” Wu says. “Learning how to speak with expression and vitality — it’s been great.”
Wu has brought those skills to bear on his roles in student government. Last year, he served as a Fifth Form representative, whose duties included organizing form feeds, designing form merchandise and directing MERGE, the school’s annual springtime manhunt game.
The “joy and experience” Wu says found in the position encouraged him to continue in student government. This year, as student body president he’s been thrust an even more higher profile leadership role, serving on the disciplinary committee, working closely alumni and the board of trustees on a variety of student matters, and meeting regularly with Rector Kathy Giles to discuss pressing school issues.
“This role has shaped my character greatly and made me become a more mature thinker and citizen,” he says.
But if there’s a throughline for Wu, from his earliest childhood to his life at SPS, it’s music. A pianist who started playing while his family still lived in China, he added clarinet to his repertoire in sixth grade, and today he plays regularly with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. To talk to Wu is to have a discussion about the connections he makes — with those he’s playing with, with the composers themselves and with the emotions the music solicits within him.
“It’s sort of a chance to reflect on what I’m feeling,” he says. “If I’m playing a piece of Mozart, it’s very joyous and happy, and that makes me reflect on the happy moments in my life and what I’m thankful for.”
Wu, who will enroll at Harvard in the fall, plans to keep music front and center. He hopes to become a member of the prestigious Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and is considering a degree in music as a means to becoming a working musician or a teacher.
Whatever career path he follows, Wu knows he’s prepared to face the challenges that may greet him. He can thank his parents for that. “They instilled a good drive and a good resilience in me,” he says.
In other words, core values — and a toolkit of talent and interest refined at SPS that will take him far in any direction he chooses.
