Update: Brent Kent ‘09
Very briefly last week, the Wabash Web site featured an article on Brent Kent, who Matt Hanson and I helped get to Wabash. Brent was featured as “Intern of the Week” in the Hill, the newspaper about the U.S. Congress.
Then the post and the link disappeared from wabash.edu altogether.
Considering that he biked across country two summers ago (blog), I was curious to check in on this rising senior and what he’s doing this summer. I e-mailed Brent, and he reported back that he’s in DC interning for Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer. “I work for the House Veteran Affairs Committee and absolutely love the investigative work I’ve been doing.”
This kid shows a good knack for investigative work. Last semester, when seemingly everyone else on the Bachelor was writing columns and opinion pieces–just like in our day–Brent wrote a very solid investigative piece on the campus food service’s green campaign. When he followed the money, it traced the parent company of Bon Appetit back to corruption in the UN food program, bribery, and Al Queda! (Bachelor, April 3, 2008, pg. 4-5)
It led to a boycott of Bon Appetit’s Low Carbon Day by Brent and others, who had a cookout instead. (Think of it, conservative students staging a boycott. Only at Wabash!)
He’s also president of the Will Hays College Republicans and worked with the College Democrats to organize a gathering during Super Tuesday.
Oh, and I solved the mystery of the disappearing posting. “The article was what I call ’sob slop’ and had some inaccuracies,” he wrote, “so I asked [the College] to take it down.”
From what I know about Brent, he’s not a grab the spotlight kind of guy. (In fact, if he found out I was writing about him, he’d bristle.) No, he’s more about getting things done.
Somehow, I knew he’d be a great fit for Wabash.
