Wesley Brown

Wesley Brown didn't get where he is today by cramming for tests or wasting time.

With a 4.8 grade point average, the Providence High School senior is student body president, enrolled in nine courses, including advanced placement and honors classes; co-president of the Spanish club and holds down a job as a shift supervisor at a coffee shop.

Of the 12 colleges Brown applied to, he was admitted to 10. The top three schools on his list are Duke, Stanford and Harvard universities.

"I picked and chose where the best opportunities were available for me," Brown, 17, said. "If Harvard works well for me, that is where I'll be. It's one of the top schools in the nation."

Brown initially wanted to be a surgeon, but was bitten by the language bug. However, he still plans on fulfilling some pre-medical requirements in college, but now he plans to major in linguistics in honor of his favorite subject: Spanish.
"I've really been heavy into Spanish," Brown said. "Spanish just really made me rethink what I wanted to do."

Brown first took up the language in the seventh grade, and is now fluent. At Providence, he's taken Spanish I-IV and is independently studying Spanish VI, since the class was cut from the curriculum this year.

"Providence has one of the best language programs," Brown said. "It really helped me to understand Spanish."
Using his foreign language talents, Brown has been a Spanish translator for parent-teacher conferences at Montclaire and Rama Road elementary schools and tutored English as Second Language students at Paideia Academy.
Brown doesn't want to stop with Spanish, though. He also wants to learn German, French, Italian, Chinese or even Japanese.

"I want to take up anything that I can learn," he said. "I've even thought about Arabic, but definitely French and German."
Brown credits his ambition to learn and excel in education to his parents.
"They're definitely very proud of me and they let me know it," he said. "Without them, I wouldn't be where I am now."

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