For Elizabeth Kent, the sword isn’t necessarily mightier than the pen but, in her hands, it’s persuasive.

The Air Academy High School senior has earned numerous accolades for her fencing prowess. She is a USA Fencing First Team All-American, finished 27th in the 2023 Division 1A USA Fencing National Championship and is the top-rated high school women’s epeeist in Colorado. She is ranked seventh in the under-21 women’s epee (a type of dueling sword) in her six-state region.

These rankings come just two years after sustaining and recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot. Before her injury, Kent had been involved in the sport for nine years, and being forced to stay away from it served as her defining moment as shared in her Best and Brightest application. It also gave her perspective.

Around the same time, she explained, her grandfather was diagnosed with leukemia and suffered two strokes during treatment. His fortitude and advice to her to rely on her inner strength motivated Kent to make a recovery plan. Toward this end, she identified drills, training and stretches with a schedule to which she adhered so she could return to fencing as a strong competitor.

Her grandfather’s resilience and counsel inspired her to help others. “I volunteered to be the youth epee representative on the Colorado State Board that serves 748 fencers,” she wrote.

This experience led her to see the economic and geographic obstacles that kept others from fencing resulting in changes to scheduling, particularly for those living on the Western Slope. And, she became a fencing coach, working with youth ranging in age from 9 to 14.

As much as being an epeeist is a part of her life, Kent makes getting good grades a priority while also being involved in several school activities. She tends to lean toward pursuits focused on improvements.

“Community service is central to who I am,” she wrote, “and central to who I am and to what I stand for, and I am passionate about leaving my community better than I found it.”

She founded Keep Colorado Green, a school club, in 2020. Through this she has organized multiple group cleanups on campus and around town. Further, she has taught volunteers to safely pick up litter, identify recyclables, and more. She estimates that the club has collected more than 1,300 pounds of trash.

Kent is vice president of competition for Air Academy’s DECA chapter and oversees competition readiness and logistics for its 226 members. “When I realized that finances kept some students from competing, I minimized meet and travel costs,” she said. This was accomplished by starting two school-based enterprises as fundraising ventures for the club. These include two coffee shops and one print shop, which she co-manages, that have raised more than $30,000.

Kent plans to study business administration with an emphasis in marketing management. She wrote that her primary goal is to work as a chief sustainability officer in the hospitality field to help lessen the negative environmental impact while meeting the intermingled needs of hotels, guests, and local communities, she stated.