Wheatley senior raises $1K to

Honor Fallen Friends

BY CAMERYN OAKES

At the 2022 Nassau County Doubles Championship, Roslyn High School’s Drew Hassenbein and Gavin Koo battled it out against Wheatley’s Aaron Raja and Kavin Shukla, securing a win for Roslyn at the competitive tennis match.

Raja, a friend of Hassenbein, reflected fondly on the match that had no impact on their friendship.

“We had a dog fight, a threehour final match, and we left it all on the court but then we were friends right after,” Raja said.

In the wake of Hassenbein dying with fellow teammate Ethan Falkowitz after a car crash in May, Raja took that memory of playing a doubles match against his friend and turned it into a doubles tournament fundraiser that would preserve the legacy of the late teens.

Raja, an incoming senior at The Wheatley School and a varsity tennis player, organized a tennis tournament at The Wheatley School Thurs- day to raise money for the teens and to honor the two tennis players who had a resounding impact on their community.

More than $1,000 was raised, Raja said, and more donations are expected to total $1,500.

The money raised will be donated evenly to the The Drew Hassenbein Foundation and Ethan Falkowitz’s GoFundMe.

Hassenbein and Falkowitz, both 14, were killed May 3 while being

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