In the case of 17-year-old RuQuan “Ru” Brown, his mission was always clear—excel in school and get into college.

Not only was he able to accomplish both, but he also managed to do it all while running his own company to help stop gun violence.

A high school senior, Brown currently has 24 college acceptances, seven of which are Ivy League institutions, and he earned 16 full-ride scholarships.

Outside of academics, he runs Love1, a clothing company he uses to raise awareness about gun violence after losing teammates, friends, and family members to guns.

I wanted to beat gun violence to the punch so that our families don’t have to continuously fall victim to tragic losses,” Brown told Because of Them We Can.