Kelly Eaton of Menlo Park is taking a day off from her busy schedule on Thursday, June 22, to head for Sacramento, where she will receive a $2,000 scholarship in a ceremony on the floor of the state Senate.
Kelly, a new Menlo-Atherton High School grad, has been named the 2006 California Interscholastic Federation’s female scholar-athlete of the year. This marks the first time in the 24-year history of the CIF prize that it has been awarded to a San Mateo County student.
This fall Kelly heads for Stanford University, where she has signed a letter of intent to play water polo.
She has been named by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Peninsula’s top female high school athletes, water polo player of the year by both the CIF Central Coast Section and San Jose Mercury News, and league swimmer of the year by the San Mateo Times.
She was also named M-A’s 2005 athlete of the year and 2006 senior athlete of the year.
You won’t find Kelly hanging out at the mall or glued to the TV this summer. She’s up at 5:30 a.m. to practice with the Stanford water polo club, then off to Menlo Country Club for activities with kids at the summer day camp. At 4 p.m. she’s back at Stanford to coach the 14-and-under girl’s water polo team.
Kelly’s mom, Mary Etta Eaton, attributes her daughter’s love of water sports to her early years when she was a “water baby” in Maui. After three years in Maui, the family returned to Menlo Park so the children, Kelly and Robbie, could attend local schools.
Kelly entered kindergarten at Las Lomitas School and graduated from La Entrada before entering Menlo-Atherton High School.
She didn’t join a swim team until she began playing for the girls water polo club at Stanford after sixth grade. At Menlo-Atherton, she has been on the starting team for each of her four years and holds records for the backstroke at both M-A and the Peninsula Athletic League, where she was voted most valuable player. During the summer of 2004 and 2005, she was named PAL swimmer of the Year.
Kelly doesn’t spend all her time in the water, either. She pulled down at 4.2 grade average and aced 1405 on her SATs.
Since junior high, she has had a vacation services business called “Kelly Cares.” She has also played in the M-A advanced concert band (alto sax, flute, piccolo), intermediate jazz band and helped found the school’s knitting club.
And she owns a black belt in jujitsu.
On June 22, Kelly’s parents, Mike and Mary Etta Eaton, will be on hand to see her receive the prestigious CIF award. Right from Sacramento, she will fly to Los Angeles to go into training with the U.S. Junior National water polo team.
“It would be a dream to make the traveling team that will be going to Italy and Greece in July,” says her proud mom.
