Cameron Edward has played varsity basketball for Eastlake High School for the past four years, totaling 101 games.

Basketball has been Edward’s favorite hobby since she was a kid. In addition to her bouncing basketball career, she has been involved in multiple clubs throughout her time at Eastlake.

“I’m a really academic kid so I’ve always been one to take harder classes and get really involved in school, but I think the bigger part about myself that separates me is that I like getting really involved,” Edward said. “I think that’s what made my experience special because I got to meet a lot of people.”

Edward served in the Math Honors Society, tutored middle school students in math through the META program, ASB, and the Athletic Leadership Council.

She credits the school’s inclusive culture for allowing her to pursue her various interests and be involved.

“I think Eastlake has a culture where there’s shared joy and I feel like whether you’re on the sports team or in the band or whatever program you’re a part of, we all kind of root for each other. It was just a very inclusive environment,” she said.

Edward varianced from Redmond High School to go to Eastlake.

“Coming here, I was kind of nervous because I didn’t know a lot of people but it was just such an inclusive environment and I think it made it really easy to join these things,” she said.

Edward said playing on the basketball team was one of the most rewarding experiences of her high school career.

“Being able to be a part of something where you’re on it freshman year and you get to see older leaders and have four years to develop yourself and get really close to the coaches and the players was really rewarding,” she said. “We made it to state my junior year and this year as well and I think that was one of the most concrete pieces of high school that I was able to see growth in.”

Edward said one of her favorite examples of Eastlake’s inclusive culture was at the unified basketball game.

“They called it Eastlake Unified and it was where we practiced with the transition kids and had a huge game with them at the end of the year. It was crazy to see how many people filled the stands. It was an emotional and super cool experience. I got to help run it and work with the kids,” she said. “Just seeing how happy they were to play in the game was really great. It was more of an appearance than I had ever seen at any other game.”

Through her many clubs and activities, Edward said one of her biggest challenges was maintaining a healthy life balance.

“Since it is a school where there’s so much you can do, there would be times where I’d be stressed with classes and wanted to be able to see my friends but wasn’t able to because of sports and everything else,” she said. “Finding that balance was tough at times but I think it was also good because it pushed me to do my best.”

Edward advises incoming high school students to get involved with their new school.

“I think joining my clubs and my team and the relationships I developed through those things made it memorable,” she said.

Edward will be attending Pomona College in California next fall and will likely be pursuing a degree in business.