NATCHEZ — Good grades come easy for a student like Jackson Carpenter.

What doesn’t come easy is balancing a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, and play multiple sports for Cathedral High School including football, basketball and tennis,

Carpenter has never had a bad grade before, and he credits that to Lady Luck.

“I guess I’m just lucky, because I have a photographic memory,” Carpenter said. “I can look at things once or twice and have it.”

Cathedral head coach Peter Arnold said Carpenter is the definition of a student-athlete.

“He’s not only the best student on the team, he’s one of the best in the school,” Arnold said. “I think his lowest grade was a 97 percent.”

While Carpenter is “lucky” in the classroom, he puts in a lot of hard work on the basketball court.

Arnold said Carpenter is the type of player to give it everything he has every day.

“He came in as a freshman last year and worked very hard,” Arnold said. “He’s improved a lot, and he’s a great teammate.”

While Arnold wants Carpenter to develop more as a player before he gets valuable minutes on the court, the sophomore is still valuable in practice.

“I try to lead by example when we’re out there playing,” Carpenter said. “I try to push the guys and make them do their best (in practice).”

Beyond basketball, Carpenter said he hopes to follow his father’s footsteps. Carpenter is the son of Todd and Emily Carpenter of Natchez. Todd is the president of Boone Newspapers Inc.

“I want to major in business at the University of Alabama,” Jackson Carpenter said. “I plan on managing a newspaper or maybe become a publisher.”

Jackson Carpenter said he hopes to score a 33 on the ACT before attending his parents’ alma mater in hopes to get an academic scholarship.

Jackson Carpenter and the Green Wave are playing their last regular-season game against St. Aloysius at 7:30 p.m. Friday.