LAPLACE — Claude Hill III holds himself to a high standard, whether it’s athletically, academically or competing with his sister. He wants to be the best.

The St. Charles Catholic rising junior does many different things  stay one step ahead of the curve. One way Claude is advancing his athletic skills is by participating in a tennis camp put on by Nike USA Sports and Tulane University.

Claude, 16, has only been playing tennis for a year.

“I lettered in the sport and went to the regional tournament and qualified for state,” he said. “At the camp we are divided in different age groups, it’s pretty fun. The instructors know what they are talking about, they are helping us get better.”

The young tennis player said he found the camp by looking online . He found one at the University of New Orleans but the camp was overnight and cost almost double Tulane’s. Not seeing the need to stay overnight and not wanting to burden his family with paying for the camp, Claude picked Tulane. He is having so much fun Claude already said he wants to go back next year.

Claude practices tennis in the mornings with his sister Lela Hill. Even though the two didn’t represent the school in tennis, they did in basketball.

While he practices and competes in sports Claude has managed to be an A student taking a dual enrollment Spanish class for Southeastern University and five honors classes.

“I don’t expect anything but excellence,” he said. “I feel like making myself take lower classes when I know I can handle a higher level of thinking isn’t acceptable. I felt like I should be in the harder classes and challenge myself instead of trying to take the easy way out.”

To further his education and help him get a step closer to his goal in life, Claude will be taking a course at Tulane July 11 through 22.

“I want to be a neurologist or a pharmaceutical scientist,” he said. “I applied for the Tulane Scholars Program and got accepted for the class that I applied for, which was neuroscience, worth three hour credits. I get to live on campus, it’s 10 days working five hours a day. I’m excited, I mean it’s neuroscience.”

Claude’s mother, Juanita Hill, said it’s a great feeling knowing that her son got into to the program.

“With him being on the fence on whether or not he wants to do pharmaceutical science or neurology, to me this program is giving him the opportunity to make the decision,” she said. “It gives him some information in that field to kind of decide yay or nay is good. He teases his sister because she is going to Tulane in the fall and he said he will get a Tulane I.D. before her.”

Lela, salutatorian for the St. Charles Catholic Class of 2016, said her brother is an ambitious person.

“He knows it’s neuroscience or pharmaceutical scientist,” she said. “He found the program, did the research and signed himself up. He knows what he wants do to and he’s going to find the best means possible to get it done.”