T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshalltown High School (MHS) senior Owen Eaton, second from right, was recently recognized as a National Merit Scholar finalist for his outstanding academic achievements. Also pictured with Eaton are MHS Librarian and Track and Field Coach Bob Gilbertson, left, MHS PE Teacher and Head Football Coach Adam Goodvin, second from left, and Marshalltown Community College (MCC) Professor Evan Frodermann, right.

Marshalltown High School (MHS) senior Owen Eaton is admittedly obsessed with the questions of why things are the way they are and how they got to be that way, and his curiosity has served as a guiding principle for the future Iowa State University mechanical engineering and physics student throughout a stellar academic career — along with a strong desire to outdo his older sister Olivia, who is currently attending Simpson College and working toward a PhD in biology and completing a thesis in education.

“When I was a baby, my sister loved to play teacher, so my first real exposure to education was (when) my sister would come home from her classes, and whatever she learned, she’d try to teach me. I wouldn’t always understand it, but math was something I picked up pretty easily from her,” he said. “And after that, she always challenged me to do better at math. She wanted me to read books, but that one didn’t happen. I’ll read science papers, but not a book.”

Eaton, who has also excelled for the Bobcat football and track and field teams, was recently announced as a National Merit Scholarship finalist based on his PSAT/NMSQT scores, academic record, extracurricular achievements, and other accomplishments. The last two merit scholars from MHS were Mitchell Eberle in 2017 and Marek Jablonski in 2021.

As Eaton recently explained, the process began when he took the PSAT as a junior, but he didn’t find out how well he did — 40 points better than his sister — until last August.

The top one percent of test takers in each state are named semifinalists, which prompts further review of a student’s academic record and a confirming test (the actual SAT or ACT) to prove that he or she didn’t “get lucky.” In all, there are only about 15,000 finalists out of 1.5 million test takers.

Evan Frodermann, a professor of physics, astronomy and engineering at Marshalltown Community College (MCC), has gotten to know Eaton this year as the senior is enrolled in several of his classes. Frodermann quickly recognized his potential, identifying him as someone who “knows his stuff” and helped to spearhead the success of the Battlebots team.

“Once he signed up, other students kind of followed, which was really kind of cool to see. And they all sort of kind of joined in because it’s like ‘Well, Owen’s doing it. Let’s see what’s going on.’ And they did really well in that competition,” Frodermann said. “So I could see it in his school work, (and) it’s not just the schoolwork. It’s what’s beyond, how you are attentive in class and the kind of questions you get and the kind of curiosity you have. And that’s what makes (him special).”

Bob Gilbertson is the high school librarian and head track and field coach, and he first taught Eaton when he was still in junior high. Fellow students, including Gilbertson’s own son, gravitated toward him and wanted to work with him and ask him for help, and in the athletic arena, he described Eaton as “a very good leader.”

“He’s not afraid to speak his mind about things that he may or may not think (are) right that he wants to improve (and) asks questions. He’s a leader when you go out to drill work and stuff like that. Technique wise, he wants to get better (and) knows there’s things he can do to get better, so he’s just always looking at the fine details of things,” Gilbertson said. “And I think that parlays into his academics as well. He’s always looking at those details. He’s more of a detail oriented student and athlete than most kids his age.”

Physics, in particular, appeals to Eaton for the reasons Gilbertson explained.

“There’s science behind everything. Nothing is just because. There’s a reason behind everything, and to get to that reason, it’s like putting a puzzle together for me,” he said. “Once you get a final picture, it’s really cool to look at.”

MHS Football Coach Adam Goodvin, who teaches physical education, joked that he doesn’t always understand the academic subjects Eaton discusses, but he’s proud of the example he sets both on and off the field, describing him as the epitome of a student-athlete.

“(Being a) student comes first. You hear that all the time, and he’s kind of lived up to that as far as making sure his priorities are where they should be,” Goodvin said.

When he graduates from MHS this spring, Eaton will already hold four college degrees: a liberal arts Associate of Arts (AA) in liberal arts and Associate of Science (AS) degrees in physics, mathematics and engineering with 97 total credits. Unfortunately for him, Iowa State will only take 64 of them, but he will still already be halfway to a four-year degree (128 credits) before he even sets foot on campus as an undergraduate student.

He spoke highly of the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) teachers he’s learned from throughout his academic career — especially those who place an emphasis on doing as opposed to memorizing — and joked that many of them have retired or moved on to another job once they’re done with him.

After college — and, in all likelihood once he’s finished his graduate degree — Eaton hopes to enter a career in the space industry, and he’s particularly interested in nanotechnology.

“Finding a way to make oxygen out of what you’re given on a foreign planet would be really cool and really helpful for humanity,” he said.

But he’s in no rush and takes heed of advice he’s received from his grandparents about the importance of education and not feeling rushed into the workforce. The National Merit Scholarship will pay for four years of tuition at ISU.

“It’s good and bad. The bad thing about it is it probably fuels my ego a little bit much, but it’s really good to know that my efforts aren’t just not being regarded and thrown out into the wind. It’s saying that ‘Hey, we know that you’ve worked hard on this, and props to you.’ But it does fuel my ego just a tad,” Eaton said. “I definitely hold it against my sister. She was 10 points short of it, so it’s always gonna come up at the family reunions.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.