Staff

Editor-in-Chief

Nishika Datla

Nishika Datla is a senior at Washington High School. She was born in Hayward, but has lived in Fremont her entire life. This is her fourth year at The Hatchet, and she is now the editor-in-chief and website manager. She is interested in covering stories about the arts, activism, and important events at WHS and in the world. Nishika enjoys drawing, crocheting, playing badminton, and hanging out with her friends. In the future she hopes to go to college and become a scientist. She is excited to be editor-in-chief and hopes to have a great last year at The Hatchet!

Section Editors

Anjika Singh

Anjika Singh is a senior at Washington High School who has lived in Fremont, California her entire life. This is her second year as a part of The Hatchet, and she currently holds the role of the Arts and Entertainment editor. In the past, she has covered a variety of topics from local news, to articles regarding rom-coms, tv shows, and more. She is excited to now read a variety of articles from a new generation of journalists, and help them further develop their ideas. In her free time, Anjika enjoys dancing, hanging out with friends, and watching movies and shows. Specifically, her top 4 on Letterboxd are One Day, Daisy Jones and the Six, The Social Network, and Inception. In the future, Anjika hopes to go to a college she enjoys, majoring in a STEM or business-related field.

Isabella Shimizu

Isabella Shimizu is currently a senior at Washington High School. She was born and raised in Fremont. This is their second year in the Hatchet and is currently the News editor. She is interested in covering art pieces made by students at WHS and bringing light to local news whether it be in FUSD or at WHS. She loves to watch light-hearted shows, make arts and crafts, journal, and read in her leisure time. Her future plans include going to college and pursuing a career that helps the world become more safe.

Matthew La Brutto

Matthew La Brutto is a senior at Washington High School. He grew up in San Diego, and moved to Fremont when he was about three years old. This is his second year at the paper, and he is the Sports and Health editor. His journaling interests include local news, school news, food reviews, and movie/tv reviews. Some hobbies Matthew has are skateboarding, video games, water polo, swimming, and hanging out with his family. He wants to become a lawyer in the future, or do something related to literature. He is the sports and health editor.

Sarah Hamilton

Sarah Hamilton is a senior at Washington High School and has lived in the Bay Area for the majority of her life. This is her second year working on The Hatchet and is the Opinions editor. She is a captain of the girls tennis team and works at the bookshop in town. Sarah is an avid reader of novels by Haruki Murakami and loves going to concerts and exploring San Francisco and Berkeley. She hopes to attend college on the East Coast next year and major in English on the pre-law track.

Staff Reporters

Arya Khadilkar

Arya Khadilkar is a current junior at Washington High School and she has lived in Fremont her entire life. This is her first year working on The Hatchet and she is very excited to interview people and write about news around the school. She is one of the captains of Washington High School’s Bollywood dance team, Taal, and loves expressing her art through dance. When she’s not dancing, she enjoys reading, singing, and playing with her Siberian Husky. Arya isn’t too sure about her major yet, but she’s certain that she wants to go to college in the near future.

Ava Etemad Rezai

Ava Etemad Rezai is a sophomore at Washington High School. She was raised in Minnesota and just recently moved to Fremont 4 years ago. This is her first year with the Hatchet where she hopes to cover topics such as trending media, mental health, and opinions. Her main hobbies include playing on the girls’ tennis team, skiing, and being a manager at MiniCatTown and doing veterinary work for the cats. While working there she hopes to gain work experience to become a vet and eventually go to vet school. And she has dreams of going to college in San Diego.

Muhammad Afzal

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

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.

Eunice Yang

Eunice Yang is a senior at Washington High School and grew up in Fremont. She may be new to journalism but is interested in writing articles highlighting Fremont's diverse community in the features section of The Hatchet. In her free time, Eunice crochets and knits while watching her favorite T.V. show Brooklyn 99. She even enjoys baking muffins and cookies for her family and friends. When it comes to future plans, Eunice wants to be a nurse to continue making her community a better place.

Isha Kannan

Isha Kannan is currently a sophomore at Washington High School. She was born in Santa Clara, but has been living in Fremont since she was four. This is her first year in The Hatchet and she is excited to cover interesting stories about student life and important world events. Beyond writing, Isha loves baking, going to debate tournaments, reading, singing, and traveling to different places. In the future she hopes to go to university, but is undecided as to what she wants to major in.

Hailia Morshidi

Hailia Morshidi is a junior at Washington High School. She was born and raised in Fremont, California. This is her first year being apart of The Hatchet and she is very interested in writing on many important topics. These include global issues, local news, and student life here at Washington. She enjoys reading, writing, hanging out with friends, and listening to multiple different genres of music. In the future, she would like to study economics with a focus on pre-law in the hopes of becoming a lawyer. .

Kothai Pillai

Kothai Pillai is a senior at Washington High School. She was born in Mountain View and has lived in the Bay Area all her life. This is her first year being a part of The Hatchet, and is excited to cover news in the local community. She enjoys trying different foods, traveling, exploring new cities with her friends,reading, going on nature walks with her labradoodle, as well as going to concerts. In the future she hopes to attend a college in California or on the East Coast majoring in politcal science and philosphy.

Arjun Mathur

Arjun Mathur is a freshman at Washington High School. He was born in Fremont and has lived here for his whole life. This is his first year at the Hatchet, and he’s interested in writing an opinions column or writing about the arts and life in Fremont. In his spare time, Arjun enjoys reading books, writing essays, watching YouTube, playing video games, talking to his friends, and listening to music. In the future, he wants to go to college, and become a history teacher or do something in psychology.

Lukas Lyssand

Lukas Lyssand is a junior at Washington High School. He was born and raised in Redwood city for 5 years and moved to Fremont in 2013. This is Lukas’ first year on the paper. He’s interested in writing about music, nature and sports. His favorite hobbies are skateboarding, playing the drums and guitar, exploring nature and listening to music. His future plans are to graduate highschool and go to a good college, but he doesn’t know what he wants to major in just yet.

Makoa Naraval

Makoa Naraval, a sophomore, is entering his first year of working at the Hatchet. He is excited to get work done and is ready to start publishing the newspaper. Makoa likes to talk about sports, about personal and school life, and events that recently happened at school or anywhere in the world. Naraval was on the Freshman 2023-24 Basketball Team and is currently playing for the Junior Varsity Football team. His plan after high school is to attend Ohlone Community College for 2 years and transfer to a bigger college, preferably San Jose State University or University of Hawaii Hilo.

Nikita Murugesan

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.

Sebastian Hernandez

Sebastian Hernandez is a junior at Washington High School. He was born in Fairfield then moved to Fremont, CA in 2023. This is his first year with The Hatchet. He is interested in covering music, retro games, physical media, movie reviews, and arcade sticks. His favorite hobbies are hiking, biking, playing basketball, drawing, playing fighting games, and caring for his CRT TV. In the future Sebastian wants to go to college and become a nurse, and a repairman for CRT TVs restoring them to their glory. Going to the Philippines to visit his family members and going to the tropical beaches.

Atharva Sonune

Atharva Sonune, currently in his Senior Year, has had a diverse upbringing that spans India, Ohio, and California. Embarking on his second year at the paper, Atharva brings a fervent curiosity for journalism. His passions encompass a wide array of topics, including emerging technology, economics, and politics. Beyond the world of writing, Atharva actively engages as a dedicated DECA member, is interested in guitar, and loves to edit videos. He wishes to hone his photography skills and is currently focusing on getting ready for college applications this year.

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