Recipients of the Mary MacLean Smith Scholarship will be asked to make a commitment to tutor someone else in the future when they are able to do so. Mary, a 1997 Yale University graduate, was a gifted teacher. Always welcoming, affirming, unassuming and ebullient, Mary un-packaged difficult material in a way that allowed students to learn in a highly effective, yet fun manner. She had an extraordinary ability to teach and to help students feel good about themselves and the learning process. And she did it effortlessly.

Mary was born and raised in Hingham, Massachusetts. She graduated from Hingham High in 1993, and proceeded to Yale College, where she graduated with a degree in economics in 1997. She then moved to New York City, where she studied in a post-baccalaureate program at the same time that she taught chemistry at LaGuardia High School. In 2002, she returned to New Haven as a medical student at Yale. During her second year, Mary was diagnosed with brain cancer, a disease she fought for four years. During that time, Mary focused on the things that mattered most in her life, including starting her own family with a son, Kevin, spending time with her family and friends, and tutoring here and at her church. Though she was only thirty-two years old when she died, Mary had lived a happy and fulfilled life as a daughter, sister, friend, wife, and mother.