For Kelvin Blake, a member of DeMatha Catholic High School’s class of 2024, the decision of what to study in college and what his future career goals are comes from the love he has for his grandmother.
In the fall, Blake will attend Princeton University on a scholarship where he will study neuroscience. “My grandmother has dementia,” he explained. “I want to hopefully find the cause and a cure for dementia.”
“After Princeton, I want to earn either a medical degree to become a neurosurgeon or a Ph.D. so I can become a medical researcher,” he said.
Active in his Catholic faith, Blake and his parents – Kelvin Sr. and LaShea Blake – are residents of Bowie, Maryland and members of The Church of the Incarnation in Washington, D.C. The younger Blake is also a member of the St. Matthias Parish youth group, which he joined when he was a student at the Academy of St. Matthias the Apostle in Lanham, Maryland.
Blake is also a member of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington’s Archdiocesan Youth Leadership Team. Comprised of young people from throughout the archdiocese, members of the team teach others about the Catholic faith, help coordinate the annual Youth Mass of Celebration and Thanksgiving, and plan retreats and other youth activities.
Sharing his faith with others, he said, “is something I know God wants me to do.”
“At a young age, the Catholic faith was instilled in me by my family, and also the importance of taking time to help others,” he said.
To that end, Blake has participated in numerous service projects, including working at the Mother Mary Lange Food Pantry at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Outside of the classroom, he is a member of the National Honor Society and was active in DeMatha’s Black Student Union “where we talked about different issues that we face as a society,” and was a part of DeMatha’s Strategic Planning Board where he “wrote goals for the school on how to improve student health.”
He ran the 400-meter, the 800-meter open and the 800-meter relay for DeMatha’s varsity track squad, and was part of DeMatha’s 4x800 relay team that came in first at the recent Millrose Games in New York City. The annual event is considered one of the world's most prestigious indoor track meets.
Blake is also an accomplished classical pianist who enjoys playing the music of Mozart, Bach and Chopin.
Blake said his favorite subjects over the years at DeMatha, which is an all-boys school sponsored by the Order of the Most Holy Trinity (Trinitarians), were his honors classes in trigonometry and geometry and counts math teacher Virginia Mentz as an inspiration.
The now retired Mentz “helped me to gain confidence and encouraged me to continue to work hard so that someday I could go to a top university.”
In addition to his favorite subjects and his favorite teacher, Blake said he most enjoyed “the brotherhood that is here” at DeMatha.
“From the first day I walked in, I felt welcomed. And here, they offer a lot of variety of clubs and activities to choose from,” he said. “I really enjoyed the brotherhood and sense of community here.”
