As a kid, Eddie Park dreamed of playing Division I baseball, on his way to the major leagues. From his home in San Jose, he had his sights set on Stanford. In 2020, four years after he graduated from Hillbrook, Eddie Park’s dream came true. He made the Stanford baseball team as a left fielder and left-handed hitter, ending his sophomore season headlining the Stanford Regional All-Tournament team as Most Outstanding Player, with a .700 batting average over 20 at-bats, and helping his team earn a place in the 2022 College World Series.
“It is still surreal to me,” Eddie says about his Stanford career, “and I’m enjoying every part of the journey.”
Eddie still harbors dreams of playing Major League Baseball, but he keeps himself grounded. “I try not to think ahead of where my feet are, but I do envision my future every once in a while. [Major League Baseball] has been my number one dream since I was little, and I still intend on achieving this dream. However, I also do know that the reality is making it to the MLB is a difficult task. That is why I am taking advantage of the academics at Stanford.” Eddie strives to balance his time between his Management Science and Engineering degree, baseball, and enjoying time with family and friends.
Because of the pandemic, he didn’t start meeting fellow Stanford students in the spring of his freshman year, when baseball training began. He became close with his teammates, but missed out on meeting new friends outside of baseball and having a more typical freshman experience. This year, as a junior, he’s having the full experience, including spending time with friends, playing video games or taking day trips to San Francisco or Santa Cruz.
Eddie joined Hillbrook’s class of 2016 for his eighth grade year and had ample opportunity to practice taking risks, one of Hillbrook’s Core Values. Seemingly every day he had to introduce himself to someone new or ask to borrow a pencil from someone he didn’t know well.
Now, he says, the Core Value “Be Your Best” resonates most with him. “I truly believe that if you give your best at whatever you do, then you will live a life with no regrets.” Eddie is embodying this Core Value on and off the field.
Though Eddie attended Hillbrook only for his eighth grade year, he credits Hillbrook with providing him the resources he needed to transition successfully to high school and beyond. Eddie spent his high school years at Valley Christian. “The only tough part,” he says, “was the transition from a class size of 30 something to a class size of over 400.”
At Hillbrook, Eddie felt known and cared for by all of his teachers. In particular, he formed a bond with Mr. Sears, who was his homeroom teacher and math teacher. “Mr. Sears was very kind to me from the get go and always wanted the best for me, whether that may be as my math teacher, my homeroom teacher, or an adult figure,” he says.
Mr. Sears remembers Eddie as a student who rose to the challenges Hillbrook set before him. “I remember Eddie’s confidence,” says Mr. Sears. ”He was very strong in math already, but he was also willing to take risks and try new things. As a new Hillbrook student, going from ‘knowing the answer’ to being able to explain his reasoning was a challenge, but he embraced it and was a great contributor to class discussions and would help his classmates.”
Eddie recalls the challenges and joys of his time on Hillbrook’s campus. The pool reminds him of the brutal quarter-mile swim test. But his favorite memory? “Definitely the marble bread,” he says. “I remember how on marble bread days the guys in my class would sprint to the snack line just for some marble bread. We would stick around after trying to get an extra one too.” Mr. Sears remembers it slightly differently. “Eddie was very charismatic,” he says. “He inspired a cult-like devotion to Hillbrook’s ‘marble bread’ snack among his classmates.”
It’s clear that as passionate as Eddie is about baseball, it’s the friendships and relationships that matter most to him. That value shows up in the way he forms bonds with classmates and teammates (which you can see in this Mic’d Up video), and his strong bonds with his family–his dad was cheering him on in Omaha for the College World Series on Father’s Day.
It echoes in the encouragement Eddie has for current Hillbrook students: “Enjoy the times you have with your friends and classmates. Cherish those times because when you graduate Hillbrook and look back on it years from now, you’re going to remember the people the most and the memories you shared with the people you developed relationships with.”