Meet the Team

Jophy Lin

Jophy is a senior in the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan High School. As the Logistics Head of HackFRee, she co-leads the event with Sagarika. She brings years of experience coordinating operations as the longest-serving member. Her favorite parts of HackFRee are karaoke (and the snacks!)

Jophy is passionate about expanding access to STEM education. She was nominated and accepted as one of 64 scholars into the Governor’s School of Engineering & Technology, where she completed college-level work and published research in the IEEE MIT URTC technical paper track. Jophy co-leads Project CLERIS, providing free scientific resources, reaching 3M+ people in 100+ countries with 80,000+ users while co-developing its flagship research course.

As an independent researcher, Jophy is a two-time Regeneron ISEF finalist, earning recognition at international, national, and state levels, with honors from two NJ senators, the Governor’s Office, and the Congressional App Challenge’s “25 for 25” list: one of two high schoolers selected alongside Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees and global changemakers.

She also co-leads her school’s Research Club, mentoring students, and runs a blog with 10,000+ readers across 60+ countries. She loves traveling, trying new foods, and watching shows (with snacks!)

Sagarika Yagnyeshwaran

Sagarika Yagnyeshwaran is a senior in the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan High School and a proud two-year member of the HackFRee leadership team. After competing in HackFRee 2023 and 2024 and earning the Hack of Distinction award, she now leads the Marketing team, combining her love for technology and creativity to bring the event to life.

When she’s not debugging or brainstorming new project ideas, you can find her designing graphics, building campaigns, or crafting content that inspires others to join the world of STEM. PS: She also runs the Instagram for the Hackathon!

She is the Head of Marketing for the Online Monmouth Math Competition, creating promotional materials and coordinating events to foster passion for mathematics for 1000+ members, increasing engagement on multiple platforms by over 130%.

She also founded the Trivia/Quiz Bowl club at Manalapan High School to promote STEM as well as general knowledge in a fun and accessible manner. On her own time, she runs a trivia newsletter (Aurium) that has reached people on many continents.

Her favorite part of HackFRee has always been the collaboration, chaos, creativity, and adrenaline rush that defines every great hackathon. This year, she’s excited to help others feel that same spark of innovation that first got her hooked.

Ethan Fuks

Ethan, a senior in the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan, joined the leadership team because he enjoys watching other people create things. He's inspired by the range of different projects that attendees can develop and how much they are will grow and learn during this event. His favorite part of HackFRee was the Super Smash Bro's tournament, and he enjoyed checking in on his friends as they developed their projects during HackFRee 2025.

He is the president of the Manalapan High School Robotics club, software team lead for Brave Robotics teams 13115 and 32294, and a member of the CyberPatriots team. Ethan also helps backstage for the Manalapan High School Drama Club and serves as the clarinet section leader for the Manalapan Marching Braves.

During his free time, he enjoys reading, playing board games, and spending time with his friends. He attended the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute last summer and met state legislators at the NJ State House during NJ STEM Month.

Rishith Kilaru

Rishith is a senior in the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan High School. He serves as the lead web developer for HackFRee and is the creator of this entire website. His favorite parts of the event include seeing the wide variety of projects the participants create, teaching various bootcamps, and (according to him), being the BEST singer at karaoke. Hopefully, he will get to teach a VR development bootcamp this year.

As a huge virtual reality (VR) and computer graphics nerd and enthusiast, he enjoys developing VR apps and BONELAB mods, flying virtual fighter jets, making Blender renders, wearing ghillie suits, going cycling, camping with his friends, and annoying Sagarika with Kasane Teto TikToks.

Outside of HackFRee, he’s active in several school clubs, including the Clash Royale Club, Astronomy Club, Cubing Club, and HOSA. He is also currently working to establish a Super Smash Bros. club at Manalapan.

Siddharth Khedarnath

Sid, a senior in the Science and Engineering Program at Manalapan, joined the HackFRee leadership team to contribute to his school's collaborative environment. His passion for coding and helping others motivated him to create an environment where participants can grow.

His favorite part of HackFRee is watching participants completing projects and forming new bonds with people. As part of his school, Sid serves on the board of the Research Club, helping students complete their own research projects and preparing them to present at competitions. In his free time, he plays tennis and video games with his friends.

As a researcher, Sid has achieved 1st place at NJAS, 2nd and 3rd place at JSSF, and has qualified for DVSF twice. In addition, his 2024-2025 research project was accepted at IEEE MIT URTC as a part of the poster track, opening doors to research opportunities at Harvard Medical School and Northeastern University.

Edmund Lee

Edmund is a dedicated member of the HackFRee leadership team and a senior at the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan. He is passionate about bringing creativity into the STEM fields. Having previously participated in HackFRee, he was inspired by everyone's dedication to their projects and the event’s energy, teamwork, and innovative spirit. That experience motivated him to join the leadership team in 2024, helping create the same welcoming and innovative environment for new participants.

Beyond HackFRee, Edmund has been involved with his school through the Drama Club and as a photographer, capturing various events, including HackFRee 2024. Through the lens of a camera and through the production of a stage set, he always creates things that tell a story. These experiences have helped him develop an eye for detail and creativity, skills he brings to every project he works on.

In his free time, Edmund enjoys experimenting with new photography techniques, folding new origami models, and exploring the state on his bike.

Sejal Nagrani

As a junior in Manalapan High School's Science and Engineering Magnet Program, Sejal joined the HackFRee leadership team to collaborate with her peers and share her passion for technology and science. As a previous participant, she particularly enjoyed the FTC scrimmages and hands-on workshops.

Beyond HackFRee, Sejal is an active member in many STEM-oriented clubs, serving as Robotics Club treasurer, captain of FIRST Tech Challenge Team 32294, the team’s defense lead for the CyberPatriot competition, vice president of Little Petal Project, and a member of her school's Technology Student Association (TSA) club. She has won serval accolades, including 1st place in Children's Story (TSA), 3rd place in Architectural Design (TSA), FTC Dean's List Semifinalist, and qualification for the CyberPatriot state competition.

Outside of school, Sejal dedicates time to community service, volunteering at her local temple and with her town’s Teen Advisory Committee, accumulating over 100 service hours and earning the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

Julia Bawar

Julia is a junior in Manalapan High School’s Science and Engineering Magnet Program, where she explores her passion for STEM through hands-on projects and leadership opportunities. She joined the HackFRee Leadership Team to inspire young innovators, and to help create an inclusive space for students to explore technology and engineering. As part of the leadership team, Julia contributes to event outreach, promotional design, and sponsor coordination, as well as leading a workshop on the engineering design process.

As a former HackFRee participant, Julia’s favorite part of the event was the creativity and collaboration among participants; an experience that motivated her to help organize future hackathons. Beyond HackFRee, Julia serves as Vice President to, both, the Women in Technology and Engineering Club, and to Technology Student Association (TSA), where she has led teams to win state and national recognition.

Outside of STEM, Julia channels her creativity through her small business, Julia’s Jewelry, and her community initiative, the Little Petal Project, which donates handmade paper flowers to nursing homes. In her free time, she enjoys designing, problem-solving, and finding ways to blend art with engineering.

Vihaan Sondhi

Vihaan Sondhi is a senior at Colts Neck High School. He first joined HackFRee as a participant two years ago, and his team earned a Hack of Distinction. Since then, as an organizer, he’s enjoyed teaching long-form reinforcement learning courses that help him better understand the material himself.

Outside of school, he's currently fascinated by learning as much as he can about complexity science, mechanism design (and game-theoretic multi-agent RL) history, competitive programming puzzles, and becoming a better writer. When he's not doing something related to that, you’ll find him listening to a podcast, playing the guitar, or being super competitive about Figgie.

Tarun Ramesh

Tarun is a student in the Science and Engineering Program at Manalapan as a junior, with a strong interest in mechanical engineering. He is currently part of the FTC robotics team and competed in HackFRee as a freshman with a pixel art video game. Inspired by the leadership and support he saw from the organizers, he applied to join the team so he could help other students bring their ideas to life.

Beyond HackFRee, Tarun stays busy with FTC robotics and the Research Club, where he’s writing a paper on rocketry propulsion systems. His favorite part of HackFree is the design aspect, as he immensely enjoyed working on the pixel characters for his game. In addition, he enjoys talking about rockets and other forms of space travel with others. This year, Tarun hopes to mentor participants, help them troubleshoot challenges, and guide their projects in the right direction.

Joe Cardillo

Joe Cardillo is a junior in the Science and Engineering Magnet Program at Manalapan High School. He is excited to be part of this year’s HackFRee Leadership Logistics Team and is looking forward to sharing his tech knowledge and experience with those attending. His skills include Python, soldering, microcontrollers, GameMaker Studio, Linux, and WordPress.

Joe is the co-president of Manalapan’s Technology Student Association (TSA) chapter and has competed at both the state and national TSA conferences. His team won first place at the 2025 New Jersey state competition in Children’s Stories, a project he enhanced by creating CAD files to 3D-print parts for the book, soldering buttons, wires, and speakers together, and using Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico with CircuitPython to code and create a unique interactive experience for readers. At the national conference, he also competed in On-Demand Video, Technology Problem Solving, Video Game Design, and Tech Bowl.

Paula Reynaga

Paula Reynaga is a sophomore in the Science and Engineering Program at Manalapan High School and joined the Hackathon leadership team after her freshman year. Seeing and experiencing a hackathon for the first time inspired her to become part of the team that made it possible for students to create projects and help others to embrace the creative journey.

Prior to competing in HackFRee, she became motivated to learn various languages such as Javascript, Python, HTML, and CSS after seeing the projects created by her peers. Paula's favorite part of the hackathon was trying something new and pushing herself and her teammates to reach higher goals in order to produce something that they can be proud of.

Having placed in the top 10 in 5 national competitions in TSA for 3 years, and placed 1st in the district for the New Jersey State Science League, Paula knows how to lead her team to victory and make the most out of her opportunities, which she aims to motivate the HackFRee 2026 competitors to do the same.