June 17, 2021
Jerusalem Thao ’20 came to MPA as a tenth grader and made an immediate impact. As a Panther, he excelled in both soccer, and his primary sport, tennis. He was captain of the soccer team, IMAC all conference, and a recipient of the coaches’ award.
In tennis, Thao served as captain, helping bring a state team championship home at the 2019 Boys’ state tennis tournament. He paired up with Dillon Vue ’20 to compete in the 2019 State Doubles tournament. In their path to the consolation championship, David Gorman and Zachary Piehl from Breck defeated Dillon and Jerusalem, followed by the MPA pair’s wins over Worthington High School’s Kipton Jenson and Cade Lindner, Hibbing High School’s Carter Anderson and Ryan Osborne, and Virginia High School’s Ryan Scherf and Jace Westerbur to secure the Consolation Championship for Mounds Park Academy. Thao was also heavily involved in St. Paul Urban Tennis.
Thao chose to compete collegiately at St. Olaf in Northfield, MN, where he is majoring in Psychology. “My cousin previously attended St. Olaf, and it really caught my eye. I also liked the fact that it’s a small school where there are smaller class sizes,” he said.
Thao also credits his time at MPA for helping him make inroads in college. “I think what has best prepared me for college was the social aspect of MPA. As a transfer student, it can be difficult to fit into a new community. And I learned how to navigate and converse with people who I wouldn’t normally have a connection with.”
Though the COVID-19 pandemic hampered Thao’s first year of collegiate tennis, he looks forward to competing in the future!
