For the third year in a row, an Alachua County Public School student has been named a Regional Scholar in the Florida Sunshine State Scholars Program, which recognizes the best math and science students in the state.

Buchholz High School senior Brent Ho outperformed students from 12 other counties in a regional competition held in mid-January. The competition involved taking a challenging math and science test developed by a statewide panel of judges. He will now go on to the state competition in Tallahassee in mid-March to compete against nine other Florida students for the top honor.

Last year former Buchholz student Jessi Shroads was a regional scholar in the prestigious program, and previously the regional scholar was Buchholz graduate Aaron Wysocki. Both are now attending the University of Florida.

“It’s a great accomplishment to earn regional scholar status,” said Pam Morgan, the district’s math curriculum specialist. “To have three regional scholars in a row says a lot about the quality of students and the quality of instruction we have here in Alachua County.”

For the state level competition, Ho will have to develop a research paper on alternative energy sources and present his findings to expert judges. He’ll also be taking another exam that will test his knowledge of math and scientific concepts.

Ho has been racking up a lot of academic honors lately. He recently earned a perfect 2400 on the SAT, one of two students in Alachua County to do so. He’s a member of the award-winning Buchholz math team, and has taken many individual honors in various local, state and national math competitions. He’s even taking an advanced math course at UF this semester. Math team sponsor Will Frazier says Ho is one of the best math students he’s ever encountered.

“He’s very creative in the way he goes about solving difficult problems,” he said. “He has a lot of unique approaches, which makes him a real pleasure to have in class.”

Ho says he enjoys being creative in his approach to math problems, but also enjoys the objective nature of mathematics.

“It’s very concrete,” he said. “You can prove things, and what you do will be true no matter what.”

Ho’s interests are not limited to mathematics. He plays the viola, loves gardening and enjoys tennis. Even academically, Ho tries to broaden his horizons, taking diverse courses in subjects like linguistics.

“I think he likes to get out of his comfort zone,” said Frazier. “A lot of people aren’t willing to do that, but Brent likes branching out from the things he’s really good at and experiencing other things.”