2024-2025 Artist Spotlight
From concept to final cut, Digital Video Arts (DVAP) at WHS is more than just an elective; it's a space where students transform ideas into cinematic stories. Whether behind the camera or in the editing room, young filmmakers are honing their technical skills and artistic vision to bring their stories to life. WHS senior Elijah Viju sees filmmaking as a way to shape emotions through visuals. “I love experimenting with different angles and lighting to create a certain mood,” he said. “But editing is where it all comes together. Adding music and sound effects makes the story complete.” His favorite project so far has been Critical Point, a short film about table tennis and competition. DVAP has changed the way he views the world. “I’ve started noticing the beauty in everyday places,” he says. “A cinematic shot doesn’t need a breathtaking location, it just needs the right atmosphere.” For Sachin Toor, also a senior, filmmaking starts with an idea: often a random thought, a single line of dialogue, or an interesting person he observes. “I keep a pocket notebook with me at all times, just in case inspiration strikes,” he said. He enjoys writing his own scripts but admits that self-doubt is a challenge: “I’m my own worst critic. But I’ve learned that stepping away and revisiting my work later helps me see its value.” While he’s unsure if he’ll pursue filmmaking as a career, it’s a passion he plans to hold onto. “No matter what I do in life, film and photography will always be a part of me.”
Astrid Monares, a current senior at Washington High School, has always loved storytelling. However, it wasn’t until her junior year that she truly immersed herself within creative writing. Ever since she was a child, Astrid had countless notebooks filled with stories that she wrote during her free time. While she always loved narrating, this year she took it seriously by being part of the Creative Writing class. This decision has helped her hone her skills and create more imaginative stories. For Astrid, the best part of writing is the amount of freedom she has. She thoroughly enjoys making up fictional worlds, creating complex characters with even more complex emotions, without any limitations hindering her process. Writing allows Astrid to permanently preserve her ideas onto paper, which is something that she finds endearing. Even though she massively cut down on the amount of writing she does due to her busy senior year, Astrid occasionally works on improving her writing capabilities through her Creative Writing class. Not only has this class helped her improve the flow of her stories but it has also helped her develop stronger storytelling skills. To Astrid, being “successful” within creative writing comes from practicing constantly and having an open mind and a big imagination. To many people, not just Astrid, writing isn’t only a hobby, but rather a form of expression that can help her process emotions and thoughts. While she does not currently see herself taking up creative writing professionally, it will undoubtedly remain one of her favorite hobbies.
For Washington senior Adrianna Herrera Santellana, drawing has been a big part of her life ever since she was a child, sitting down with her father learning how to draw and paint. The memories of creating art with her father caused her to have a deep admiration for drawing. For Adrianna, it isn’t just a hobby or a skill, but rather a form of self-expression and relaxation. She describes the drawing process as calming, further explaining that seeing one of her art pieces come to life gives her a big morale boost and a sense of achievement. Adrianna’s art style has changed over the years, from realism to many other techniques. From working on simple shapes and basic scenery, her skills have grown as she tackles harder pieces,such as drawing realistic portraits of her favorite horror movie characters that help push her creative boundaries. When asked for advice on how to further improve drawing skills, Adrianna said that self-discipline and persistence is the key to succeeding. She brought up the fact that in many instances, she was burnt out from drawing. However, to fix that problem, she learned to take breaks and to never force an idea onto your canvas. As for the future, Adrianna hopes to incorporate her love for art into her life. She has major aspirations to become a tattoo artist, although she is still considering all of her other choices in career paths. Whether art becomes a career path or remains a hobby, one thing is for sure - it will always be entangled within her life.
Hanuel Lach, a junior at Washington, first enrolled in Ceramics because he wanted a fun class and his friends recommended it, but for the last one and a half semesters, he has really enjoyed working with the clay and improving his skills. Hanuel enjoys pottery because it allows him to be very creative: “It’s a hands-on process where you can either start with an idea of what you want or just go for it and see what happens.” Hanuel also says raising the clay up is the most challenging part in the process for him. “I could never do it consistently and it takes a lot of practice,” he says. “Also some projects don’t turn out the way that you expect, so you have to be patient.” Another challenge is having a project fail. Hanuel says that he has had many projects fail and that is what ceramics is about: trial and error. When that happens, he just restarts and tries again. Hanuel has a tendency to work with a particular piece over and over again, such as his Easter Egg Heads that he has worked with for a long time now. “I don't know why, but I just wanted to create heads with a unique twist,” he says. “It’s been fun experimenting with them.” Some people are afraid of working with clay because they think that it’s super messy. “I thought the same when I first joined but it’s actually pretty clean if you’re careful,” Hanuel says. “Ceramics got me into staying after school to work on projects I never thought I’d even attempt. It’s a lot of fun if you put in the effort.”
Junior Ashir Saxena is part of the Taal dance team at Washington High School. Ashir first got into dance at the age of 6, inspired by his friends and sister. He practices both Indian and Hip-Hop dance styles. “Indian dance is very high energy and expressive,” he says. “This style is beyond dancing. It represents the culture of India, the culture that I have come to love.” A typical practice with the dance team starts with going to the studio once or twice a week. The team usually practices with a specific song they have been working with and practices increase as they get closer to competition. “Competition and practice always feel super engaging and carefree, since I’ve known most of these guys for so many years and these are my boys,” says Ashir. He didn’t join Taal for college or a career; he simply enjoys it. “I’ve acknowledged that this is something that I made a commitment to when I joined and that’s how I continue,” he says. The most memorable moment of Ashir’s dance career came during his freshman year, when he and his friends choreographed and performed their own dance: “Everything was flawless. It felt like we created our own piece of art with the people I love.” Performing in front of a large crowd is nerve-wracking, but Ashir overcomes it by prioritizing his enjoyment. “I used to worry about being judged for being a guy doing dance but acknowledging that none of that matters boosted my confidence,” he says. The best part about dance for Ashir is the community. Through his dance journey, he has met some of his closest friends and it has given him a lot of confidence; knowing that no matter what, they will have his back. Ashir says that being in dance has changed him as a person completely. Ashir’s advice to newcomers is, “Overcome embarrassment. People are there for a good performance and nothing matters as long as you enjoy it.”
Nathan Romeo Millanes is a freshman at Washington High School and has played the violin for five years. For his first year, he was self taught. Afterwards, he began to see a tutor to further develop his skills. Millanes says, “ For the first year it was a passion. And then around November or so, I started taking it more seriously.” As of now, Millanes is quite skilled and has a very advanced repertoire. He enjoys pieces composed by Vivaldi, specifically “Winter” and “Summer” in The Four Seasons. He is currently working on mastering Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Millanes says he became interested in playing the violin after, “Seeing the people's movements, and how they look so powerful and beautiful when playing the violin.” Millanes also states, “I know it’s hard for people to learn the violin but it was relatively easy for me. But that's all because of passion and effort.” Millanes demonstrates his dedication to the violin by being a part of the school orchestra club. Furthermore, he practices anywhere from one to five hours a week. Millanes also says, “ Whenever I play violin, I always love to hear the resonance, the vibrato, the aesthetic, and the entire sound quality that my violin can produce. The low registers, the high registers, and instead of making it play, you can actually make it sing, as if it's replicating a human voice, rather than an instrument.” Overall, Millanes loves his instrument and looks forward to improving to the best of his abilities.
Jasmine Teresa Kanmani is a freshman at Washington High School who has been singing for more than eight years. She started to sing because her parents forced her into it, but eventually it grew into a passion. She is also a soprano, meaning she has an incredibly high range. She is a part of the school choir and delivered a stunning performance of “A Whole New World“ from Aladdin at the recent benefit concert hosted by Washington High School’s Music Department. Kanmani says, “ I like singing now because I get to sing my favorite songs, and a lot of different kinds of music.” She adds on, saying, “My favorite kind of songs to sing are Disney songs however.” To get to where she is now, Kanmani practiced a lot. Previously, she had been taking music lessons from a tutor but stopped them once she got busier. Kanmani says, “ I used to go to classes and it went on for years and years, and my teacher assigned me a lot of songs that I had to sing, so I had to practice them. I used to do recitals as part of my classes and I had to perform in front of a large crowd multiple times, but I didn’t mind because it was fun.” Kanmani also talks about the struggles of singing as a soprano. “It's very very exhausting and eventually you strain your voice if you sing for too long.” But Kanmani still enjoys being a soprano. Kanmani says she sings because, “ It's a way to express yourself, and it's also a coping mechanism. You can just trap yourself in a room and sing to your heart's content. It is basically a way to relieve stress.” Kanmani plans to improve her singing skills and is excited to see how far she can go!
Muhammad Afzal is a current junior at Washington High School. He was born in Pakistan and moved to Fremont at the age of 7, and has lived here ever since. This is his first year at the Hatchet where he hopes to learn how to effectively conduct interviews and explore different writing styles. He is also a part of WHS DECA and Debate. Outside of school oriented things, the things he enjoys doing the most are spending time with family and friends, going out, spending time with animals (mostly cats), exploring nature, and sleeping. He hopes to attend a Top 5 UC school but is not fully sure about what he wants to major in.
Eric Ma, a senior at Washington High School, has spent his entire life in the Bay Area. This is his first year working for The Hatchet, and he aspires to capture campus life through photography. He is the WHS Aviation Club's founder and president, as well as a member of the Photography Club. Eric is a student pilot and photographer with over 1500 Instagram followers. He intends to attend a flight program at a university to become a commercial pilot or to join the US Air Force to become a fighter pilot.
King Rivera is a senior at Washington High school. Originally from the Philippines, King moved to San Mateo at a young age, and has been living in Fremont CA since 2024. This is King’s first year on the paper. He’s interested in writing about sports and nature. His favorite ways to pass the time are reading, playing games, hanging out with friends and exploring nature. In the future he plans on joining the Air Force with the goal of flying fighter jets.
Nikita Murugesan is a freshman at Washington High School. She was born and raised here, in Fremont.This is her first year at the Hatchet and she is interested in covering topics like important things happening in our school, community and world. Nikita enjoys reading books and mangas.When she is not reading, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, playing badminton, teaching indian martial art’s, skateboarding and rollerblading. For this year she plans to get better at playing the trombone. She is unsure of which major she wants to pursue but she wants to attend a UC college.