Sulphur High School graduate Paxton VanMetre is the 2025 American Press Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. (Trish Leger / Special to the American Press)

A basic understanding of the world around him isn’t enough for Paxton VanMetre. His pursuit of knowledge — from academics to sports, band and beyond — requires a deeper understanding.

“That’s everything for me,” VanMetre said. “Knowledge for me is not just knowing where things are or what things are.

“Another big lesson I learned throughout sports is you got to have a why for everything. Why you do something and to have that knowledge of why I would do something or why a thing is, why rules are in place, why sports are a certain way.”

With a healthy dose of advanced classes, VanMetre ranked 18th out of 404 with a 4.14 grade point average in his graduating class, scored a 32 on the American College Testing exam, played multiple sports and found time for band and various clubs. He is the American Press Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.

The Sulphur High School Student of the Year made sure every minute counted.

“You have to handle business,” VanMetre said. “You find out that in class, ‘All right, I got a few minutes, maybe I can knock out some math problems.’

“Or maybe, I can knock out some biology or whatever. You start finding stuff to do, so that way when you get home after a long day, you don’t have to deal with a whole lot. A lot of late nights, but those are definitely worth it.”

He played four seasons as a kicking specialist for the Tors football team and defense and midfield for the soccer team. With sports and playing the tenor saxophone in the band, early mornings and long days were the norm for VanMetre. He was also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the BETA Club, and the Quiz Bowl team. He is fluent in Spanish and was a TOR Guide, translating for fellow students who were learning English.

“You’re tired,” VanMetre said. “Every day you’re tired, but there’s an aspect of it where you have to almost force yourself some days, especially those summer workouts.

“Then, after summer workouts, now it’s band camp. All right, now it’s soccer practice. So, all of that would be one day. You have to be mentally strong to get through football at 6:15 in the morning. Then after football, you would go to school like normal. You’re a student-athlete, student first. So you’d go to school, you’d take a test.”

As a son of educators, Calcasieu Parish School Board Superintendent Jason VanMetre and Sulphur High Assistant Principal Amanda VanMetre, Paxton gained a greater appreciation for his teachers and what they do.

“They were such a help,” Paxton said. “Just being able to say, ‘All right, we’ve been in a classroom. We’re going to tell you how teachers think. We’re going to tell you how some teachers are.’ And it was just a little bit of an insight into education and teachers. I was able to look into teachers’ lives, and it truly gave me an appreciation for what teachers do.”

With a love of math and science, VanMetre said he will pursue a degree in mechanical engineering starting this fall at Louisiana Tech.

“I always enjoyed being in those classes, whether it was my senior year with Ms. (Whitney) Bass and Ms. (Mary) Billedeaux or freshman year with Mr. (Darian) Roberson and Ms. (Georgia) Broussard,” Paxton said. “I took physics in my junior year, and that kind of exposed me to the more science engineering aspect. I was in an engineering class my junior year as well, so that really showed me.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’m loving what we’re doing here. Is there any way I could do this further?’ I love this. Come to find out, Louisiana Tech has a very good engineering program. It’s a very hands-on experience. When I saw that in Louisiana Tech, I was like, ‘All right, I’m sold.”