Brent Cash admires Dr. Ben Carson as his role model, inspired by his ambition and ability to overcome. Although Brent lives in an area where few excel in academics, he has persevered to become a leader and scholar of outstanding proportions. Remembering old friends and haunted by the chilling story of a friend shot to death, Brent strives to ensure that younger students in the neighborhood focus on school. To do so, he instituted an elementary school tutoring program that encouraged students to excel in school and avoid outside negativity. To further motivate neighborhood students, he serves as editor of the Kids’ Corner for the city newsletter, composing an educational column for youth.
Brent hopes the elementary school students he tutors will embrace academic enrichment as he has. As a recipient of the AP Scholar with Distinction award, Brent has dominated a challenging curriculum of twelve AP courses and earned a 4.86 GPA one year. His scholarly achievements have been recognized with awards such as National Achievement finalist, Ventures Scholar, Outstanding Students of America, Maryland Distinguished Scholar, and the Honorary Science Award presented to the most skilled student in science at his high school. Taking Calculus 3 and Differential Equations as a high school senior, he proved he is a capable mathematician. Brent joined an elite group of 231 students statewide who qualified to compete in round two of the University of Maryland Mathematics Competition. He ranks in the top 1% of a class of 693 students and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by these peers.
Brent’s academic merit and dedication to the community have resulted in many leadership positions; he is President of the National Honor Society and captain of the Science Bowl team. He was selected by the head coach of the Varsity basketball team to serve as Student Assistant Coach, a position in which he learns the trades of coaching, mentors younger players, and runs tutorial SAT sessions. Brent also tutors and fulfills community service as a Spanish Honors Society member. Of all his activities, Brent finds research to be the most compelling. He interns at the University of Maryland’s Mechanical Engineering Lab, where he explores the complexities of a highly preheated air combustion system. Selected as a NASA SHARP apprentice, Brent spent one summer taking research to the next level as he completed an intense eight-week program in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin/Madison. He aided in the design of an interface that allows a quadriplegic greater self-control of his environment.
Inspired by the research that he says “left an indelible impression on my life,” Brent believes that the medical issue should be a forefront concern for African Americans. He hopes to improve communities as a philanthropist of medical research and healthcare access. With gifted hands and a mind to match, Brent aspires to mirror the accomplishments of his role model and to understand the big picture one day.
