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Our Team

2025-2026

Austin Berens, Games, 8th Grade
2025-2026

Austin enjoys tennis and guitar; he does not enjoy being sad. He enjoys video games and books, but not long books, because they take too long to read. Austin is beginning his first year in Griffin Post. He makes games

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Alexander Dippel, Sports, 8th Grade
2024-2026

Alex Dippel is in his second year of writing for the Sports Griffin Post section. He is in 8th grade, and enjoys sports, such as wrestling and soccer. He does robotics in the winter as well. He loves board games and to laugh, and he hopes you enjoy this year's Griffin Post!

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Samuel Elias, Debate, 6th Grade

2025-2026

Samuel is beginning his first year in the Griffin Post in “Debate”. He lives with his parents, two younger siblings (Rebecca and Caleb), and his bearded dragon (Rex). He has several hobbies such as swimming, playing clarinet, fishing, hiking in the forest behind his house, and reading. He speaks Spanish and English, and is currently learning Chinese and German. This is his 3rd year at GATE, and enjoys math and science. He looks forward to helping out with Griffin Post, with hopes that you enjoy the articles he writes!

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Levi Enderle, Your Next Play, 8th Grade
2024-2026

Levi Enderle is an 8th grader this year. This is Levi’s seventh (and final) year at Avondale GATE, and his second as a part of the Griffin Post team. Levi enjoys many sports, such as Tennis, Robotics, and Soccer. He is on the 3538 Robojackets Robotics team, located at Avondale High School. He also loves listening to music and spending time with his family and pets. He has a 2 year old Boston terrier named Bubba, and 3 cats. He has an older brother and a younger brother, named Wyatt and Quentin.  He loves to read a good book and play video games with his friends. He is excited for the school year, and hopes that you share his enthusiasm!

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Nishika Gadikota, Games, 7th Grade
2025-2026

Nishika Gadikota is writing in the Game section for the Griffin Post. She is 12 years old and is currently in 7th grade. It is her 2nd year at Gate and her 1st year writing for the Griffin Post. She has a little brother who is in Kindergarten. She also loves playing Tennis and Chess, and she has been to many chess tournaments, too. She also enjoys drawing and baking in her free time. Nishika plays the flute in the Advanced Band. Nishika is extremely happy to be writing in the Griffin Post this year!

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Yumo Jiang, Novel Notes All Ages, 7th Grade
2025-2026

Yumo Jiang is a 7th grader and is writing the Novel Notes All-Ages section for her first year in Griffin Post. This is her 4th year at GATE, and she enjoys music, drawing, reading, and writing. She has been playing the piano for seven to eight years and plays clarinet in the Avondale GATE Advanced Band. Yumo also has two younger sisters who are definitely not the most annoying people in the whole world. An interesting fact about her is that she speaks two languages fluently: English and Chinese. 

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Ananya Karandikar, Novel Notes Older Readers, 6th Grade
2025-2026

Ananya Karandikar is one of the writers for the Older Readers section of Novel Notes. She is in sixth grade and is really excited for the opportunity to write for the school newspaper. Some of her hobbies are reading, art, dance, writing, and sports. In addition, she has a black belt in Taekwondo. This is her 4th year in GATE,  and she really likes the school. She hopes to write in the Griffin Post for all of her middle school years at GATE, as so far it has been really fun. Her parents are from India, and she has been to India twice. She is bilingual, as she speaks English and Marathi (an Indian language) fluently. She is so excited to share her writing with you and hopes you enjoy it.

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Ariana Larson, Short Story, 8th Grade
2024-2026

Ariana Larson is an 8th grader, and is in her second year attending GATE. She joined this flock of griffins in 7th grade, after previously going to Derby Middle School. She was on the Griffin Post Team last year, and wrote the Dear Griffin Post Column. Now she will be writing for the new Short Stories section. She has always loved books, her favorite authors being Rick Riordan, Tui T. Sutherland, and Nikita Gill. She even has some of her own stories she’s planning on writing into books! Her favorite genre is fantasy with a little bit of romance (Though Brody probably won’t let her publish most of her love stories). But if you ever have any ideas or requests for stories, you are welcome to find her in the hallways to approach her. She promises she’ll see what she can do.

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Leila Litkouhi, Music, 7th Grade
2025-2026

Leila Litkouhi is in 7th grade and is writing the Music section in Griffin Post. She has a very musical family and plans to pursue her passions in music. Leila loves to sing, play french horn (which is arguably the best instrument), play soccer, and cook/bake. She has a little brother in 4th grade and a mischievous cat named Luna. Also, she is a fan of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings!

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Yukthika Manepalli, Music, 7th Grade
2025-2026

Yukthika Manepalli, a writer of this year’s griffin post, is really excited to be a part of the school newspaper. She wants to be exposed to our school spirit and writing. Yukthi (what she prefers to be called) enjoys many sports but her most favorite is tennis, though she loves all racquet sports. She is in 7th grade right now, one  club she is in right now is NJHS. She doesn’t play any instruments but she listens to a lot of music. You will usually see her with headphones plugged in. Some of her favorite music genres are: rap, pop, k-pop, really she prefers anything except classical. She has one older sibling in her freshman year of college at U of M. She has many amazing friends, and she is looking forward to writing more :)

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Declan Mitchell, Around the World, 8th Grade
2025-2026

Declan Mitchell is a new addition to the Griffin Post in the Around the World with Griffin Post role. His interests are video games, dogs, and playing piano. He is excited to be writing for the Griffin Post because he likes geography and just random trivia about it. This is his third year at GATE and first in the Griffin Post. He is currently learning how to speak and write in Spanish and Polish. He is excited to serve you all by being a source of information.

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Shivam Patel, FIFAW, 6th Grade
2025-2026

Shivam Patel is a writer starting out on Griffin Post at FIFAW, having written in Griffin Post starting off from the 2025-2026 team, 6 years after the post was started. He is in 6th grade and now continuing his 4th year here at GATE. His favorite hobbies are tennis, ping pong, playing the guitar, and painting. He loves to write and read, and loves to delve into math, and specifically enjoys science; a combination of all of that. He is also bilingual, and he speaks English and Gujarati. He loves LEGO Technic – one of his favorite pastimes is to create something out of them – when he doesn’t get homework!  He is happy to be writing and sharing fun factoids in a frivolously fluent manner, in a way that you are able to understand and use these facts as tidbits to give you knowledge on why things are the way they are. Check out FIFAW to see more of his articles!

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Carolina Rodriguez-Garza, Music, 6th Grade
2025-2026

Carolina Rodriguez Garza is 12 years old,  in 6th grade, and this is her 4th year at GATE. She loves reading, Star Wars, making stop motion movies, and comic books. She plays trumpet in the school band, and piano at home. She plays softball, and is currently trying to watch the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. She speaks English, Spanish, and some French, and is very excited to be in the Griffin Post this year!

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Ishani Thakur, Novel Notes Older Readers, 7th Grade
2025-2026

Ishani Thakur, a writer for the Novel Notes section of the Griffin Post, is excited to start her first year on the team. This is her fifth year at Gate, and she's looking forward to a great year ahead. Outside of the newsroom, Ishani loves the arts—she enjoys drawing, creative writing, and crocheting. She's also a big reader and often spends time in the library with a good book. Ishani is trilingual, speaking English, Hindi, and Marathi. She’s eager for a successful school year and hopes you’ll enjoy her book recommendations and share her passion for reading.

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Marguerite Underdown, Novel Notes All Ages, 7th Grade
2024-2026

Marguerite Underdown is 12 years old, and writes for Novel Notes All Ages this year. She enjoys singing, music, and theater, and is a member of the Gate Advanced Band where she plays the flute. She likes Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, and her favorite outdoor activities are skiing, running, jetskiing, doing high-ropes courses, zip-lining, and playing baseball with her cousins. She has a brother and two sisters and likes to read and write in her free time. She is excited about beginning her second year at Griffin Post!

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Akhil Vennelakanti, This Day In History, 6th Grade
2025-2026

Akhil Vennelakanti is a 6th grader in his fourth year at Avondale GATE Magnet School. In his first year in the Griffin Post, he is a writer of the “On This Day in History” article. He is ten years old and very fond of music, even more so music theory. He also is a percussionist in GATE’s Advanced Band. He enjoys doing math, watching YouTube videos, playing Minecraft and playing piano. He enjoys his time at school, and his favorite subjects are math and band. He is a devout Hindu and is capable of reading and understanding Telugu. Enjoy the many facts offered in his articles.

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Freyr Wang, Words of Wisdom, 6th Grade
2025-2026

Freyr is currently entering his 3rd and final year at GATE. He is so grateful to receive this one-of-a-kind opportunity to join this program and will try his hardest to give out his best every edition. He enjoys playing many sports, his favorites are basketball, fencing and track. His favorite subject is math. On top of this, he loves playing chess and learning new things! He is really looking forward to being able to turn this program up a notch and hopes you can too! Hope you all have a great school year.

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Brodie Silles, Editor, 8th Grade
2024-2026

Brodie Silles is an 8th grader who enjoys reading, gaming, and writing. Brodie loves animals, monkeys in particular being his favorite. He is a huge nerd and has read hundreds of books. Some of his favorite book series are Harry Potter, My Hero Academia, One Piece, The Lord of the Rings, and Nevermoor. He also plays the cello.

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History
Previous Editors

Luis Nava
2023-2025

Luis Nava, the editor of the Griffin Post, is beginning his second year as the editor of the Griffin Post, and he is excited to play his part in improving an already wonderful newspaper. This is Luis’ fifth year at Avondale GATE, and his third as a part of the Griffin Post team. Luis enjoys many sports, including cross country, basketball, and track. He also loves music, both listening and playing it (he plays the saxophone in the school band). Luis is bilingual; he speaks English and Spanish fluently. He is excited for the school year, and hopes that you share his enthusiasm!

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Aly Marx
2021-2023

Hey there! My name is Aly and this is the second year I have had the privilege of being editor of The Griffin Post. I am in 8th grade and this is my 6th year at the Avondale GATE Magnet School and my fourth year writing for the GP. I have a little brother, Liam, in 5th grade and a little sister, Julia, in 2nd grade, both going to GATE as well. Some of my favorite things to do are read, write and sing! Outside of school, I play soccer, piano, and take tap dance and voice lessons. I thoroughly enjoy acting as well and will audition for this year's school play. An interesting fact about me is that I have lived in London, England for two years. I hope you like the Griffin Post! Happy reading!

Luca Nowinski
(Founder)
2019-2021

Hi everyone! I have been at GATE for 3 years and counting and I am so excited to be continuing my leadership of the GATE Gazette Jr [that was The Griffin Post's original name]! This has been a passion that I have found within the past year, and I am so happy that I get to share it with all of you for the second straight year! Some of the things I like to do in my free time are robotics, going outside, playing any sports video game, and watching football. I am a big Detroit Lions and Michigan fan, which is sometimes rewarding and other times very disappointing. Also, my family is from Italy, and I love to go there and have all types of good food. My favorite subject is Math, because of all the new ways to solve just one problem. I hope that you can enjoy this website, as our team has worked very hard to get this moving.

Previous Griffin Post Teams

Griffin Post Team 2023-2024

  • Maya Lovria (Novel Notes)

  • Jack Mullen (Novel Notes)

  • Akruti Padhi (Around the World with the Griffin Post)

  • Rohan Pavuluri (This Day in History)

  • Adyoth Sural (Jollification Jumble)

  • Eduardo Velasquez (Advertiser)

  • Lucas Wantuck (Ten Interesting Facts About the World

  • Kevin Yin

  • Luis Nava (Editor)

  • Mr. Kaczanowski (Supervisor)

  • Shraeya Mehta (Assitant Editor)

  • Priya Arun (Advertiser)

  • Sidney Billings (Sports)

  • Anna Ferrero (Advertiser)

  • Hasrhika Gidwani (Personalizing P2)

  • Margaret Goetz (Around the School)

  • Abhisri Gummula (Around the School)

  • Riya Gupta (Seasonal Topic)

Griffin Post Team 2022-2023

  • Aly M. (Editor)

  • Mr. Kaczanowski (Supervisor)

  • Priya A. (Contest Coordinator)

  • Harshika G. (Personalizing P2)

  • Evie G. (Advertising)

  • Riya G. (This Day in History)

  • Max J. (Around the School)

  • Shraeya M. (Around the School)

  • Maya M. (Advertising)

  • Jack M. (Novel Notes)

  • Luis N. (Seasonal Topic)

  • Carson P. (Novel Notes)

  • Nolan P. (Around the School)

  • Lake S. (Sports)

  • Adyoth S. (Jollification Jumble)

Griffin Post Team 2021-2022

  • Aly M. (Editor, Novel Notes)

  • Benjamin D. (Advertiser, Contests, Sports)

  • Carson P. (Novel Notes)

  • Julia G. (Advertiser)

  • Julia T. (Seasonal Topic)

  • Lillian A. (Advertiser)

  • Livia M. (Jollification Jumble)

  • Lucy M. (Novel Notes)

  • Max J. (Around the School)

  • Michael Bigelow (Supervisor)

  • Nolan P. (Around the School)

  • Varsha L. (Around the School)

Griffin Post Team 2020-2021

  • Aly M. (Novel Notes)

  • Adyoth S. (Politics)

  • Carson P. (Student Work)

  • Julia T. (Seasonal Topic)

  • Livia M. (Jollification Jumble)

  • Luca N. (Editor)

  • Michael Bigelow (Supervisor)

  • Olivia L. (Parent Careers)

Griffin Post Team 2019-2020

  • Annabel A. (Seasonal Topic)

  • Aly M. (Book Reviews)

  • Blair B. (Around the School)

  • Charlotte C. (Game)

  • Claire R. (Game)

  • Hasan F. (Clubs)

  • Katie M. (Teacher Interviews)

  • Krishna M. (Around the School, Pictures)

  • Liam M. (Jokes/Riddles)

  • Lilly M. (Riddles)

  • Livia M. (Clubs)

  • Luca N. (Editor, Sports)

  • Michael Bigelow (Supervisor)

  • Olivia L. (Student Work)

  • Sarah L. (Teacher Interviews)

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