Brookfield Academy senior is always ready to seize the day

High School Hot Shot - Alex Li

He's a state champion in two different arenas and his embrace of "carpe diem" is contagious. Ergo, he is this week's FOX6 High School Hot Shot.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. - He's already a state champion in two different arenas and his embrace of "carpe diem" is contagious.

Ergo, Brookfield Academy's Alex Li is this week's FOX6 High School Hot Shot.

Li began his tennis career in third grade, and it culminated with a D2 State Championship last year with the Blue Knights.

"I have a trophy from another tennis tournament, so I just, like, draped the medal around that," said Li.

Off the court, Latin is an important part of Li's life.

"I took my first Latin course in seventh grade," Li said. "It was really different from the previous languages I had taken, like Spanish and French, and it was more challenging than I had encountered in the past, so I definitely wanted to take on that challenge."

In eighth grade, Li started competing in Certamen, which is a quiz-bowl style game for students of Latin, Greek, and classical civilizations.

"I thought it was a pretty interesting competition," said Li. "I was a kid. The buzzing appealed to me. I think Certamen is Greek for like competition, or I think struggle."

Li is a champion with a racket as well as that buzzer.

He is a four-time state champion with his Certamen team.

Li is hoping this will take him where he wants to go.

"There's definitely a few Latin kids before me that I look up to," Li said. "And now I want to I want to be as good as they were. And I guess where they went to college is a symbol of their success in Latin, and I hope I'll reach that level one day. I guess the beautiful elegance and the intellectual challenge of Latin is what made me continue it."