NATCHEZ &045;&045; A leader on the tennis team, a part-time employee, a 4.0 student and a little William Faulkner on the side.

Trinity Episcopal senior Cory Van Vlynmen finds time to for it all. The STAR student also managed to earn a 29 on his ACT, the highest score at his school, and has a 4.1 GPA.

Though he admits to not spending much time studying, Van Vlynmen said he did buy the ACT practice book.

His 29 was good enough to make him the Trinity STAR.

But the 18-year-old plans to take the test one more time before leaving for Hampden-Sydney College in Richmond, Va.

&uot;It’s a very small, very liberal, liberal arts school,&uot; Van Vlynmen said. &uot;I decided I didn’t want to go to a big university.&uot;

After undergraduate work Van Vlynmen plans to attend the University of Virginia Law School.

In the meantime, he will continue to spend about three hours a day on the tennis court with the Trinity team and work at Live Oak Nursery.

Despite being the president of the Youth Legislature club and involved in the computer science organization and key club, Van Vlynmen said he spends most of his time reading and writing.

&uot;I’m a huge reader,&uot; he said. &uot;I just read more and more and more and I’m proud of my reading.&uot;

His current favorites are &uot;Wuthering Heights&uot; and William Faulkner.

Van Vlynmen credits his seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Phoebe Winters with sparking his interest in writing.

&uot;She encourages it,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s why I am where I am today.&uot;

He said Winters, his STAR teacher, also helped increase his vocabulary by having frequent spelling bees.