As the new school year began on Aug. 13, members of the Class of ‘29 walked on campus for the first time, marking a significant milestone in their educational journey. This surprisingly large class brings 272 students with diverse talents, passions and goals.
The Falcon decided to focus on 15 of these individuals — we call them “Freshmen 15” — to learn more about their respective passions, extracurricular activities, goals and social lives.
- Leila Mansour, artistic swimmer
When we asked her what she liked about the sport, Mansour told us about her journey as an artistic swimmer.
“Artistic swimming is not just about swimming laps, and it’s not just about flips and cool tricks,” Mansour said. “There’s dancing, flexibility, conditioning and stretching that comes with the sport.”
Last May, Mansour attended the 2025 Worldwide Invitational in Florida. During the competition, her team performed a group routine involving 10 people, and Mansour performed a solo in which she placed first. She hopes to keep doing the sport for as long as she can and attend more championships throughout her high school years.
- Jackson Gavin, actor
Gavin has been performing in plays and musicals since elementary school. First inspired by his friend in third grade, he has since found a strong liking for theater and started inspiring others through his performances as well.
“I’ve convinced a lot of people to start to act,” Gavin said. “It feels really good to watch them develop a passion for theater and constantly get main roles.”
Gavin has held lead roles in musicals like “Beetlejuice,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Anastasia” and more. In the future, he hopes to play a part in the musical “Hadestown,” possibly on Broadway.
3, 4 and 5. Carissa Lee, Michelle Lew and Janey Liang, nonprofit founders
In middle school, Lee, Lew and Liang started a nonprofit they called Cozy Hearts Foundation after seeing that many homeless people in San Jose had health issues and needed supplies.
“During my time in middle school, I did a lot of volunteer work which led me to notice a large and increasing issue regarding homelessness,” Liang said. “I decided to create this foundation with Michelle and Carissa to aid the homeless and contribute to a solution for this rising problem.”
Since creating the foundation, one of their largest achievements has been donating more than 1,000 clothing items like jeans, jackets and dresses. These items were donated by their neighborhoods to people in need. The freshmen gathered in one area, bringing food and supplies, and let homeless people come and take what they needed.
Currently, the three don’t have any upcoming events because of new laws implemented in California that seek to disperse the unhoused from encampments. They say these laws have “swept” homeless people out across California, sometimes leaving them with destroyed property and nowhere to go. Because the homeless people are now more scattered, the freshmen do not have a set way to distribute items to a specific area. They have goals to continue to expand their efforts and are currently working to come up with new ideas to help those in need.
- Shreya Srikanth, bassist
Srikant, a double bass player who has been playing since sixth grade, has qualified for the All-State ensemble and participates in multiple youth orchestras, specifically the San Jose Youth Symphony and the California Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. She was one of two recipients of the Director’s Award from her conductor in Redwood Middle School’s orchestra at the end of eighth grade, signifying her leadership and determination.
“I go all out when I play bass and I put a lot of passion into it,” Srikanth said.
With many other extracurriculars like Carnatic music and robotics, Srikanth mostly practices at night, often for two to three hours. She hopes to be known for her proficiency in the instrument and play solo concertos in high school.
- Vedant Talwalkar, FIDE chess master
Talwalkar described his passion for chess, which began in kindergarten after he joined a chess club at Stratford. Talwalkar is a FIDE master, which is two levels below Grandmaster and encompasses the top 1% of players; he has also won first place for the under age 12 division at the 2022 North American Championship.
He says he finds the activity helpful for his daily life.
“Chess teaches critical thinking skills and how to plan, so it also helps me solve everyday problems outside of playing,” Talwalkar said.
In order to balance chess and his school work, Talwalkar plans each of his weeks in a planner. He hopes to one day become a Grandmaster, an achievement roughly only 2,000 people in the world hold.
- Maddy Schilling, water polo player and musician
Like other freshmen, Schilling enjoys pursuing multiple passions. Schilling has been playing the french horn for four years, which led her to join the marching band as well as the Symphonic Wind Ensemble this year. Additionally, she has been swimming for four years and started playing water polo over the summer. She is on the varsity team.
“My friend invited me to go to a water polo camp with her, and since I had a lot of fun, I decided to join the school team,” she said.
With both activities being in the fall season, Schilling is prioritizing water polo since she is still learning how to play, but she makes sure to keep up with her marching and musical performances for band.
- Rohan Worthington Chennu, football and volleyball player
Worthington Chennu, a multi-sport athlete, is playing JV football for the school as a middle linebacker and defensive end; he also plays volleyball for Bay to Bay Volleyball Club. While football is a newer sport for Worthington Chennu, he has been playing volleyball for three years. He hopes to join the school volleyball team and potentially get a scholarship for one of these sports in the future.
“These sports are exciting to me because of the high action, quick pace and how you have to always be ready for anything,” Worthington Chennu said.
- Rylie Coss, soccer goalie
Coss has been playing soccer since she was 5 years old. Coss participated in noncompetitive leagues before advancing into a club after COVID-19. Upon joining, she discovered that her club was looking for a goalie.
“My team needed a goalie, so I stepped up because no one else wanted to do it,” Coss explained. “And then I fell in love with it.”
Coss plans to join the school team while continuing to play for her club over the next four years; then, she hopes to play for a college in the future.
- Aditya Karanam, table tennis player
In addition to serving as freshman class president, Karanam is also a table tennis player. After trying out other sports, he found his best fit in table tennis because the coach helped him grow both as a person and table tennis player. Since then, Karanam has played for six years competitively, attending tournaments and leagues. He hopes to get a medal in the U.S. Open Table Tennis Championship and earn 2,000 or more points, which would give him the title of semi-pro or pro if he earns more than 2,500 points.
“When you’re down in sets and you’re losing points because you’re not in it mentally, you have to bounce back from a bad position. And in real life, you have to bounce back from hard things,” Karanam said.
- Anushka Thakur, speech and debater
Thakur does speech and has placed first in the middle school state qualifier and sixth at the National Middle School Speech and Debate tournament. She enjoys the activity because she believes speaking is an important skill to have, as it improves communication with other people. First introduced to the speech and debate club in sixth grade, Thakur has now joined the high school’s speech and debate team and is planning to stay for the next four years.
“I think [high school speech and debate] is going to be a little more competitive than middle school,” Thakur said. “So, I’m pretty excited about it.”
- Jake He, programmer
He has been doing VEX robotics since sixth grade. After hearing about robotics from his middle school newsletter, he decided to try it and joined Redwood Middle School’s team. Since joining, his team has attended three championships, accumulated 20 awards and competed in division finals at Worlds.
He currently codes for the SHS team. In the future, he plans to attend a college for something related to STEM such as computer science. He has high hopes for his team in the future.
“Throughout high school, I hope to learn more from robotics and I hope our team gets stronger as we gain experience over time,” He said.
- Prapti Vekantaraman, student athlete
Venkataraman has a strong passion for math, even taking Precalculus Honors this year. She has also played soccer since first grade, initially playing for De Anza Force Soccer Club and now as a winger on All Stars United. While Venkataraman has a strong love for soccer, she isn’t sure if her schedule is going to let her continue, especially with her workload from math.
“It’s good to be taking [Pre-Calc Honors] in ninth grade when your other classes are more chill, because the workload is definitely a lot,” she said.
Venkataraman has previously done Math League competitions as well as the American Mathematics Competition (AMC). She has an interest for math, and it is something she wants to continue in college and her future career.
- Siena Baldwin, volleyball player
Baldwin is a competitive indoor and beach volleyball player. Baldwin is playing as outside hitter for the varsity volleyball team and hopes to continue for the rest of high school. She previously played for Mountain View Volleyball Club, but now her time goes to the school team and her team at J5 Beach Volleyball. Baldwin enjoys the sport because aside from playing, she loves the social aspect.
“I would love to play volleyball all through high school because it’s so much fun to meet new people and compete in tournaments against other schools,” she said.
Since she is also a violin player, Baldwin has found time management crucial for making sure that she can fit all that she loves into each day.
