at CHS

ARUSHI ARORA

page editor/writer

Beginning his diving career nine years ago, senior Raphael Tourette will be joining the Division 1 Swimming at Diving team at Harvard College.

Inspired by his brother’s decision to commit to Harvard for fencing in 2017, Tourette began to take his own steps toward an athletic career in the NCAA. Said Tourette, “I had no idea that I would be going to Harvard as well, this just opened my eyes to the possibility of diving in the NCAA. Knowing that being chosen to join a division 1 sports team is extremely difficult and competitive, I began to take my sport a lot more seriously.”

Weighing several factors before committing to Harvard, said Tourette, “I had visited the school 3 times prior to committing to visit my brother, and I fell in love with the campus and atmosphere. There’s no arguing that it is objectively one of the top schools in the country, but there was a lot more that drew me into this school than just that [...] the swimming & diving team and coaches are a group of immensely uplifting and kind people who instantly made me feel like part of their family upon the start of the recruiting process.”

Said Tourette, “I am overjoyed to be able to attend a university where I can pursue my biggest athletic and academic dreams. I cannot wait to compete for this incredible school with such talented and driven teammates.”

From finding her passion in the water at the age of six to getting her first National Record at the age of ten, Mia Tandingan is ready to make strides as she looks to further her swim career at the Division I swim team at Bringham Young University. Having to make a difficult decision between BYU and her other offers, Tandingan considered several factors through her recruiting process before finally making her decision. Said Tandingan, “The college recruiting process for swimming began on June 15th during the summer of sophomore year and I had several college coaches reach out to me. After going on an official campus visit, BYU stuck out to me the most. The school offered many beneficial programs to my major and the support system is well-rounded for both academics and athletics [...] I was convinced that BYU is the right fit for me!”

After the school joined the Big 12 Conference last September, Tandingan is thrilled to be a future student-athelete at BYU. Said Tandingan, “I’m excited that my teammates and I have the opportunity to compete against other higher level schools [...] I’m looking forward to meeting new people, making more memories with new friends, and exploring what Utah has to offer!”

Every athlete has a different recruiting experience. For Vithiyashankar “TV” Thulasinthan, a football commit to San Jose City College, the college recruitment process was one rife with twists and complications.

Said Thulasinthan “Cupertino High School isn’t a prestigious school in terms of athletics and especially football, we pretty much get no recruits to our games, and even when we had a historic season we didn’t get any recognition even from our own school. It’s hard to get recruited from a small school in terms of athletics. The second reason is my height [...] I am considered short for my position and being short while also being from a small school turned away a lot of recruits.”

Despite the setbacks, his perseverance paid off. Said Thulasinthan, “I received many offers from prestigious universities for football and some I even wanted to attend but a major barrier was the living cost and personal reasons. So when I was at a crossroads at where I wanted to go, San Jose City College came to me and told me that they were extremely interested in me and pretty much offered the world to me.”

On top of this, Thulasinthan has also broken barriers with his football career. He will be the first Sri Lankan football player ever at San Jose City College.

Senior Harry Singh is prepared to begin the next part of his football career as a wide receiver at San Jose City College. After just having begun playing football his freshman year in high school, Singh is now looking forward to taking his abilities to the collegiate level.

Said Singh, “I committed to my school was because the coaching staff had a lot of connections and are known for getting their athletes scholarships to the next level, on top of that the offense they run is very similar to what we ran here at Cupertino so it has been a lot easier to pick things up.”

Looking back at his experience in high school, Singh values the support and encouragement that Coach Oswald provided him through his journey with football. Said Singh, “Coach Oswald is the main reason I am still playing football. As a freshman, I did not get much playing time but coach oswald decided to bring me to varsity as a sophomore because he had a gut feeling that I would do well [...] Coach Oswald has helped through every step of my journey and I would not have had the success that I had in high school if not for him.”

With his last season at Tino, Singh celebrated winning the league championship as well as breaking the school record for receiving touchdowns.

For senior Jacqueline Solomon, softball was love at first sight, and plans to continue pursuing her passion at Claremont Mckenna College.

Said Solomon, “I started playing softball when I was four years old. Maybe a year later, I was riding in the car with my mom and was telling her how much I loved it, and in that moment I decided I was going to play softball for as long as I possibly could.”

Solomon felt that same serendipitous love for Claremont Mckenna. Said Solomon, “ [my coach] made me feel like I was part of her family, and that night while driving back home, I realized I would never have an experience that could be any more amazing than the one I had just had.”

Despite her dedication, Solomon highlights the stigma she has faced as a student-athlete. Said Solomon “At Tino, I personally have heard people say that I got into an amazing school without even having to try or work hard to get in. [...] We dedicate our lives to our sports and our education to get into good schools, so please don’t take away from our accomplishments and hard work.”

After just beginning his athletic career last year at Cupertino High School, senior Hyunmin Shin has committed to Tufts University’s Division III Track and Field Program, with plans to study biopsychology on the premed track as well.

After qualifying for CCs and receiving recruitmenter letters in the mail, Shin’s recruitment process was only sightly impacted by the pandemic. Said Shin, “The only thing was that between it being my first season, and the season being short because of covid, I didn’t have any film of me competing at meets. I had to send in homemade film but most coaches didn’t mind. Eventually, I got offered a visit to Tufts where I could meet the team, professors, and see the facilities.

Ultimately choosing to spend his next four years at Tufts University, said Shin, “I knew Tufts is great for pre-med and it’s in Boston which is a hotspot for hospitals and med schools. They were also one of the programs that were more interested in me. I also grew up in the greater Boston area so I know the area pretty well.”