Heritage Hall's Carissa Villaflor named top female high school scholar-athlete

It was a dry-erase board.

She immediately wanted her dad to put the massive white board on the wall in her bedroom. She put a big calendar on it to keep track of class projects, volleyball matches, student council activities, tennis practices, baby-sitting appointments and everything else she was doing during her senior year at Heritage Hall High School.

“It's what I always wanted,” she said. “That was my favorite present by far.”

A teenage girl getting excited about a dry-erase board?

It's not ordinary.

Then again, neither is Villaflor. She is among the best multisport athletes around, the winner of five team state titles and three individual ones. She is a top-notch student, one B shy of a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Because of her excellence, Villaflor is the recipient of the Bob Colon Scholarship, presented by The Oklahoman and the Jim Thorpe Association to the top female high school scholar-athlete in the Oklahoma City area.

“She's such a driven individual,” Heritage Hall principal and longtime family friend Keith Cassell said. “She just works so hard.”

It's part of being a Villaflor.

Dick and Cathy Villaflor made a decision early on — they would spare no expense when it came to academics and athletics for their children, Natalie, Caleb and Carissa.

The Villaflors were teachers, not wealthy by any means. Cathy went to work for the U.S. Postal Service, taking the night shift so she could either substitute teach during the day or chaperon one of the kid's field trips. Dick took a teaching and coaching job at Heritage Hall, where he built one of the state's tennis powerhouses while his children received college-preparatory-level educations.

Carissa followed the lead of her parents, staying positive like her mom but being competitive like her dad.