A team manager for multiple sports at Brentwood, Thapa honored by homecoming crowning

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 12, 2018 | 7:06 PM

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Salina Thapa stepped from “behind the scenes” onto center stage Sept. 28 at Brentwood Stadium.

Thapa, 17, was named 2018-19 homecoming queen at Brentwood at halftime of the Spartans’ conference football game against South Side. She succeeded Jennifer Harmon, last year’s homecoming queen.

“I was totally surprised when I was crowned queen, but it was quite an honor,” Thapa said. “It made me feel more loved by my classmates. I would like to thank the Brentwood community for making me feel so welcomed and loved.”

Her behind-the-scenes role?

Thapa has served as a team manager each school year for various sports/athletic teams at Brentwood. She is a manager for both the cross country and the track and field programs, and is a scorekeeper for the boys basketball team.

“I am basically the manager/scorekeeper for almost all the sports provided by my school,” she said. “Track, cross country and boys basketball; I’ve been part of them for all my high school. I recently started helping out the boys soccer team.”

Thapa has earned 12 varsity letters so far — four for cross country, three for track and field and boys basketball, and two for band.

“Salina truly cares about helping others and is an extremely outgoing and kind person,” said Dr. Ian Shortt, Brnetwood’s cross country coach. “Salina can find a nice thing to say to anyone. She began managing our track team when she was still in middle school, and has been the cross country manager ever since she began high school.

“She is in charge of recording names and times at the meets and computing the scores. It can be more frustrating than it would seem, at times, because when runners have just finished, the last thing they want to do is spell their name to a clerk and they always want to immediately know their time. It is extremely complicated to keep score at a track meet, as there are usually three different teams and several events happening at once.”

Thapa is a native of Nepal, and is the youngest of three siblings in her family. Both her brother, Samir, 22, and sister, Samita, 19, are Brentwood graduates. Samir currently is attending Pitt while Samita is taking classes at CCAC.

Nepal is a landlocked country located in Southern Asia between China and India. Nepal’s capital city is Kathmandu.

Thapa has a glittering 4.1 GPA and is president of the senior class. She also is co-captain of the visual ensemble/color guard in the school band.

“I was born in Nepal, the country of brave Gurkhas and the tallest mountain as you know (Mt. Everest),” Thapa said. “When I was 9, I migrated to America with my family. I lived in New York for three and a half years, but then my family and I decided to move to Brentwood, my home. We moved in August of 2013. Sadly, I’ve not been able to go back to Nepal, but I plan to go soon with my family.

“I’m quite honored to be homecoming queen, along with class president.”

Thapa’s favorite subject is math, and her future plans include attending college.

“I do wish to go to a four-year university to pursue business management,” she said, “and maybe later on be a therapist. Math has been forever my favorite subject, especially algebra. Math for some reason just makes sense to me.

“Picking a favorite teacher at Brentwood would be difficult because they all are so just amazing in their own way. They all see my potential, and they encourage me to try even harder so I can do my best.”

Dr. Shortt, a social studies teacher who also is an assistant track coach, said Thapa will be missed when she graduates from Brentwood.

“Salina always keeps a cool attitude and makes the runners feel good about themselves,” he said. “She will be missed when she graduates this year.”

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Brentwood