Holbrook-Palmer Park path upgrades

The path along Watkins Ave in Atherton's Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave., will be closed on weekdays into early August.

The town is converting the pathway to decomposed granite. If you enter from the pedestrian bridge, you'll be directed straight toward the baseball field. This project won't impact weekend trail use.

New town clerk hired in Portola Valley

Portola Valley has hired Jennifer Torres as its town clerk.

Torres worked over seven years with the city of Rio Vista before joining Portola Valley. She served as a public safety support services manager and deputy city clerk in Rio Vista, according to the city's Instagram page.

Portola Valley's last town clerk, Melissa Thurman, left her role in March and has been the city clerk in Los Altos since April.

-Angela Swartz

Menlo Park welcomes two new Eagle Scouts

On July 15, Menlo Park’s Troop 222 held a ceremony in honor of Boy Scouts Ron Freeman and Jayna Chua achieving the Eagle Scout rank. Menlo Park Mayor Jen Wolosin and Council member Drew Combs attended the ceremony, which was held at Menlo Church.

In order to become Eagle Scouts, both had to complete a community service project. Chua built a trellis planter at the Menlo Park library that will be used in educational programs, while Freeman worked with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District to train residents on disaster preparedness. Chua joined the Boy Scouts Association in 2019, the first year that girls were allowed to join.

Both Chua and Freeman graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School last month.

Atherton teen nominee for ESPN Sports Humanitarian Awards

Rishan Patel, an Atherton resident and student at Junipero Serra High School, has been nominated by ESPN for the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award and will be featured in the 2023 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award ceremony.

Patel was nominated for founding the nonprofit AlleyOop Kids and running a program called Lending Lockers, which provides underprivileged schools with lockers filled with sports equipment. The program has since expanded to assisted living facilities for neurodiverse young adults and collaborated with EmpowerHER in India to provide the lockers to dozens of all-girls schools.

-Michaela Seah