Emmett Smith is just finishing high school but he’s already a serial entrepreneur.

He has started 10 businesses in the past decade and is headed to Stanford University in the fall to pursue his dream of developing more environmentally friendly air travel.

He got his entrepreneurial start at age 7 by starting a lawn care business that now has 25 employees, and he is co-founder of Apex SAT, a free online tutoring service for standardized college admissions tests that now serves 6,000 students worldwide with up to 300 volunteers. He sells jewelry produced by a 3D printer that he also uses to make orthodontic retainers for friends, teachers and others.

“I have always been a student of possibility. I love helping others and believe that individual success is achieved when others win,” Smith said in his application for The Gazette Charities Foundation’s Best and Brightest scholarship.

“Throughout the past several years, I founded multiple companies to help others prosper: A test preparation company for students in need of additional help, a financial literacy club to inspire students to be responsible consumers and a garage startup manufacturing affordable orthodontic appliances. Although these organizations have far different results and missions, they all revolve around the same mission: To help underprivileged students achieve their greatest potential.”

Smith plans to study aerospace engineering at Stanford so he can eventually develop innovative propulsion systems that significantly improve the efficiency of air and space travel. He wants to help create cleaner, more efficient engines for commercial and military aviation and in space to revolutionize travel and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change.

He is seeking a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps ROTC) scholarship to pay some or all costs of attending Stanford, where he hopes to launch another startup in the technology-driven Silicon Valley area.

Not all of Smith’s ventures are businesses; he also heads a nonprofit called the John Paul II Charity Fund that provides acts of service and gifts to low-income children who are not available to afford books and toys.

Smith’s entrepreneurial success has not come without challenges. He hit a nearly 1 in 35 million chance in late 2023 and it was not lucky at all for the then Pine Creek High School junior – except that his bad luck in developing a cancerous mole had a happy ending.

What started out as a persistent itch turned into surgery several months later with an incision that required 44 stitches to close and made sleep, school and playing hockey and tennis difficult for Smith. He was able to return to sports in March 2024 by making a few adjustments in his play. He participated in the state hockey semifinals earlier this year and is now clear of cancer after his latest checkup.

“Throughout my high school career, I have always been driven to give back to my community,” Smith said in his application. “Apex SAT and the Stocks and Finance Association have been great successes that demonstrate my drive to benefit society.”

Stephanie Cornelio, college career counselor at Pine Creek High School, said Smith “has all the qualities and characteristics it will take to rival the most prestigious entrepreneurs: Gumption and grit matched with ethical inclusiveness.”