Meet the team
Bhavya Mahesh
Bhavya Mahesh is a fourth-year pre-med Cognitive Science major and Masters of Public Health candidate with minors in Biology and Chemistry. She is a Soprano 1 from Naperville, Illinois and can’t wait to hit those high notes with her teammates this year! Having previously served as President, PR Chair, and Secretary, Bhavya can't believe this is her final year on the team and is so excited to sing with her best friends again. When she's not at practice you can find her playing her uke, binging a new show, or looking for another new food place to try! Bhavya can't wait to make new memories this year and is looking forward to another successful competitive season :)
Reina Samuel
Reina Samuel is a senior from Marlboro, New Jersey, double majoring in Cognitive Science and Healthcare Management as a PPSP Medicine student. She sings soprano for the group (SopSquad is the best squad hehe) and is now entering her second year as Music Director after having served as a PR-chair for three semesters! When she's not at rehearsal, you can find Reina rocking cute scrubs at her medical assistant job, fighting senioritis at KSL, or most commonly, napping. She is so excited for all the memories to come in her final year on the team - #Dhamakaordhie forever :)
JENNIFER HUANG
Jennifer “Jenn” Huang is a senior nursing student from Cupertino, California, entering her third year on Dhamakapella and returning to our exec board as President! She sings alto 2, but enjoys dipping her toes into alto 1 and soprano parts on occasion. In her free time outside of rehearsal, she can be found learning new K-pop dances in the Village Dance Studio, binging Netflix shows, or crocheting random projects that she may never finish. She is pumped to continue creating choreography for this year’s competition set and can’t wait to finish out her senior year making memories with her teammates!
Vikram ekambaram
Vikram “Vik” Ekambaram is a junior from Dallas, Texas who is majoring in Chemical Biology on the pre-med track. He usually jams with Kethan and Brian on the tenor 2, but he’ll also strike out as a baritone given the chance. Outside of rehearsals, you’ll find him cruising around on his longboard and listening to smooth jazz and rock on his headphones. For this semester, Vik is stoked to not only to kill it at the comps once again but also make all the team’s creative visions for the semester a reality!
Logan Bergert
Logan “LOGANG” Bergert is a senior from Louisville, Ohio, and is majoring in Nursing. Now entering his fourth year on the team, he sings high as a Tenor 1; but when he's not at Dhamaka practice, he's strumming the ukulele, searching for the best food joints around Cleveland, or putting in hours at the hospital. He hopes that the team will be able to build on last year's success in the coming competition season, and thinks that new arrangements will make for a winning set in the spring!
JUNIPER DUNCAN
Juniper Duncan is a fourth-year Cognitive Science major from Hawthorne, NJ. When she isn't performing at drag shows and actively sowing chaos in the world, she enjoys baking, hanging out with her slugs in the lab, and generally making Dhamaka a little more slay :) Despite already traveling a ton, they're excited to have fun in new places with the rest of the team and make good music (that hopefully wins comps)!
Sashvat iyer
Sashvat is a senior Physics and Astronomy major from Mumbai, India. In his third year on the team, he will be taking upon the role of vocal percussion once again. When not at practice, you'll often see him on the hunt for decent tasting food, watching F1 and Cricket highights or biking around campus to reach class on time. This year, Sashvat hopes to use the experiences he gained from his previous years to continue and extend the good run of form Dhamaka has enjoyed over the last few years!
VANESSA SHAND
Vanessa Shand is a senior from Castle Rock, Colorado, majoring in Nursing with a minor in Childhood Studies and Psychology. She sings Alto 1 and is very excited for her second year on the team learning new songs and continuing to learn more about this style of music. When she isn't with Dhamaka, she is serving as Potential Member Outreach for her sorority (AΦ), working at UH Rainbow Babies as a nursing assistant, looking for new coffee shops/study spots in Cleveland, or watching sunsets at Edgewater. Vanessa has already had so much fun bonding with the team and singing together, but also looks forwards to another year of traveling/competing and strengthening her friendships within the group!
Kethan srinivasan
Kethan Srinivasan is a junior from San Diego, California and a with a major in Computer Science and minors in Economics and Chinese. He sings as a Tenor 2 with previous experience in choir, Carnatic music, and in opera (yes, he has the receipts). In his spare time, you can catch him updating his Letterboxd page, practicing Carnatic music with CWRU Naadam, writing for the Observer and the Athenian, directing for PTG, or working as a Social Media Editor and volunteering for CWRUVotes! Kethan can’t wait to see what the next year brings for the Dhamakafam and what spring comps will have in store!
BRIAN VANCE
Brian is a junior from Ellicott City, Maryland, majoring in environmental engineering and environmental studies. With previous musical experience in choir, double bass, and piano, Brian is going into his second year on Dhamakapella as a Tenor 2! Outside of rehearsals, he can be found brushing up on piano in Denison and constantly listening to music. He also enjoys playing Minecraft, exploring new hiking trails in the area, and baking elaborate cakes. Brian is eager to make more music and memories — and is so excited to start competition season again with the Dhamakafam!
ANIRUDH RAGHUVIR
Anirudh Raghuvir is a third-year pre-law student from Oak Brook, Illinois, majoring in political science & international studies with minors in music & business management. He is entering his second year on Dhamakapella singing those high notes as a Tenor 1 and is excited to serve as Public Relations Co-Chair for the spring semester! Outside of rehearsal, you can find Ani cooking up something new in his Instant Pot, attempting (poorly) to become punctual, volunteering with Case Cares, or practicing Carnatic music. He’s super excited to travel and make some even more dhamazing memories with the team this year!
HARSHINI SOMISETTY
Harshini Somisetty is a second-year student from Columbus, Ohio, majoring in Medical Anthropology on the pre-medical track. She adores cats and hopes to have three in the future. Serving her second year on the team, she is this year’s Co-Music Director and sings Soprano 1. Outside of rehearsal, Harshini works as a Peer Educator for the Flora Stone Mather Center, volunteers at the Cleveland Clinic, or watches too much New Girl. However, she’s usually singing constantly—whether that’s at practice or in her dorm’s shower. She eagerly looks forward to making many more memories and memes with her best friends and traveling to procrastinate her work and go to competitions!
Harry Ganz
Harry Ganz is a freshman from Sudbury, Massachusetts majoring in Music and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. As a first year, he is thrilled to be joining Dhamaka as a Tenor 1, and cannot wait for the memories, competitions, and music-making that Dhamakapella gets up to. In his free time, Harry can be found enjoying a nice nap, munching on wavy Lays or Saltines, crocheting, or endlessly doom scrolling TikTok. Harry is a self proclaimed internet troll, so feel free to ask him about your favorite niche internet video!
COLETTE HARTMAN
Colette Hartman is a first-year from from New York City, majoring in Theater and International Studies. She feels absolutely honored to be joining the Alto 1s (the best voice part in Dhamakapella, in her opinion) and is so excited for her first semester as Public Relations Co-Chair! When she’s not in rehearsal, she can be found at the Maltz Performing Arts Center — in rehearsal or performing with the theater department — watching TikTok edits of French soccer players (she promises she actually enjoys the game as well), or speed-walking through campus as she runs late for whatever she’s headed for. She feels so grateful to have such an incredible group of people by her side through her first year at CWRU and can’t wait for everything to come!
RACHEL GOPALANI
Rachel Gopalani is a first-year student from Merion Station, PA. She is majoring in Applied Mathematics and minoring in Music. She’s singing Alto 1 (for the first time ever!) this year, and loving it! She enjoys reading, arranging or listening to music, working out, cooking, playing video games (she dabbles), and is always down for something creative. She also loves spending time with her family and cheering on Philadelphia sports teams. Rachel has already made so many friends and memories from Dhamakapella this year and can’t wait for many more!
NIVEDITA PISHARODY
Nivedita “Nivi” Pisharody is a freshman from Hoffman Estates, Illinois studying Neuroscience on the pre-med track. She’s entering her first year on the team as an Alto 2, with the occasional alto 1 or soprano part under her belt, and she can’t wait to serve as treasurer for the first time this spring semester! When she’s not at rehearsal you’ll find Nivi sipping a vanilla latte at Presti’s in Little Italy, singing loudly (and questionably) at karaoke, or baking up a storm back home. She’s so excited to make music and memories with the Dhamakafam this year and to dhrive on road trips to competitions around the country with the team!!
KASHISH JaISwal
Kashish “Kash” Jaiswal is a freshman from Randolph, New Jersey, majoring in Biology on the pre-med track. This is (obviously) her first year on the team, and she proudly sings Alto 2. Outside of rehearsal, you can find her tearing up Adelbert Gym with her insane fencing moves, looking for cute cafe spots she never actually studies in, or curled up in her dorm with some ramen and instagram reels. Kash can’t wait for her next four years in Dhamaka and is so excited make some dhamazing comp szn memories with everyone!
OUR ALUMNI
Neel Agarwal • Divyam Agrawal • Sourodeep Banerjee • Aditi (Molly) Bhanja • Nishtha Bharanwal • Aaron Baskin • Ashwini (Ashi) Batchu • Dhruv Batura • Shilpa Bhat • Tosin Bolarin • Ronnell Canada • Ecehan Cezayirlioglu • Arindom Chakraverty • Rahul Chander • Eric Chang • Mick Crawford • Grace Dai • Jonathan Daniels • Anoop David • Tara Dickinson • Ian Dimayuga • Michael Druschel • Neha Dwivedi • Alyssa Fledderjohn • Mihika Gangolli • Rahul Ghole • Nada Haq-Siddiqi • Sahi Hari • Wayne Hou • Daniel Humphrey • Avanti Jakatdar • Vivek Jayan • Ahmil Jilani • Sahana Kannan • Vivek Kapur • Niharika Karnik • Naya Katta • Komal Keerthy • Anna Kellam • Michael Kowalski • Navaneeth Krishnan • Aishwarya Kumar • Vasu Kuram • Michael LaFramboise • Jay Lee • Ann Liu • Nainita Madurai • Austin Mak • Kevin Mallady • Gavin Markowitz • Anusha Mudigonda • Manoj Nair • Madhav Nandan • Shyam Natarajan • Shouvik Neogi • Pavani Nukala • Lewis Orr • Marinna Panting • Harika Parige • Sagar Patwardhan • Mayank Prasad • Avni Pravin • Kasey Pukys • Divya Rachakonda • Shruti Ragunathan • Krithika Rajkumar • Soumya Rajupet • Naveen Ram • Shwetha Ramachandran • Sridhar Ramananthan • Roshni Rao • Bhavani Raveendran • Brendan Raymond • Shaunak Roy • Tulsi Roy • Angela Rui • Manasa Sagaram • Chandrika Sanapala • Zoya Sandhu • Andrew Santin • Sugapradha Saravanan • Bradley Schissel • Oliver Schumacher • Jon Sender • Aashna Shah • Samir Shah • Shardule Shah • Sohaj Singh • Ayan Sinha • Siddharth Sivakumar • Sharanya Sivakumar • Alexandra Smick • Josiah Smith • Kari Sneitzer • Raksha Soora • Arthi Sridar • Sahaana Sridhar • Tarun Srivastava • Jessica Suratkal • Shweta Suresh • Emily Szabo • Kevin Tee • Savannah Walters • Jeff Wexler • Antonio Zimbello