At one point during a recent interview for a school feature story, BASIS Pflugerville Head of School Preethi Rajivan picked up her phone and called her children. Within minutes, her son, Pranav, a BASIS Chandler graduate and BASIS Pflugerville teacher, and her daughter, Maanasa, a BASIS Pflugerville senior and National Merit Semifinalist, were on speakerphone from their home in Texas.
What followed felt like a family conversation years in the making.
They finished each other’s stories. They corrected each other’s memories. They laughed at moments that had clearly been told around the dinner table many times before.
When the conversation turned to the Communication Journal, a familiar BASIS staple, the family quickly found themselves revisiting one of their favorite stories.
“When he went to Texas A&M, after the first week, he came home asking for a planner,” Preethi recalled with a smile.
Pranav jumped in.
“I missed my first lab meeting,” he laughed. “That’s what did it.”
The exchange lasted only a few seconds, but it captured the essence of their family’s relationship with BASIS Charter Schools. For nearly two decades, BASIS has been the backdrop to some of their family’s most important moments.
It has been where they learned, where they taught, where they discovered their passions, and where they found a community that feels like family.
A Parent's Leap of Faith
Years ago, Preethi was an engineer searching for the right school for her young son.
“We started hearing about BASIS a lot in the community,” she recalled. “Everybody talks about BASIS.”
With little more than recommendations from other families and confidence in the school’s reputation, she enrolled her son and began what would become a life-changing journey.
As the years passed, the impact of the school extended beyond her children’s education.
Inspired by the mission and educators, Preethi made a remarkable career transition. She left engineering and entered education, beginning as a Teaching Fellow before eventually becoming a school leader.
Looking back, she sees a clear connection between her family’s growth and the values that BASIS helped cultivate.
“We accommodated our lifestyle because we believed in it,” she said. “That’s why BASIS is everything for us.”
For Preethi, the experience has always been about more than academics.
“There are so many little things that BASIS does that go a long way,” she said. “The organization, independence, responsibility. Those are things that stay with students.”
Forging Her Own Path
As the youngest member of the family, Maanasa has carved out a journey entirely her own.
A National Merit Semifinalist and member of the inaugural graduating class at BASIS Pflugerville, she has spent the past several years helping shape a growing school community while pursuing ambitious academic and research interests.
Her senior research project explores working memory in adolescents, reflecting a longstanding interest in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine.
She credits both her family and her BASIS education for helping her discover confidence in her abilities.
“Part of the reason I do so well in school is because they’re both my biggest teachers,” she said, referring to her mother and brother.
One lesson in particular has stayed with her.
“I learned that success isn’t from what opportunities already exist,” she said. “It’s what you can create for yourself from what you have.”
That mindset helped her embrace the unique opportunities that come with being part of BASIS Pflugerville’s first graduating class in 2027. Rather than following traditions established by others, she’s helping create them.
“It is a very close-knit community,” she said. “I don’t think I would ever trade it for anything else in the world.”
Like her brother, Maanasa plans to pursue medicine.
The Power of Belonging
Throughout the interview, they repeatedly returned to a common theme.
BASIS helped them believe in what was possible.
At one point, Pranav described a scene from “Cars,” in which Lightning McQueen is asked by a veteran competitor how he knew he could always do it.
The answer stayed with him.
“I never thought I couldn’t.”
For Pranav, the statement captures something that BASIS, his teachers, and his family helped cultivate over many years.
Not perfection. Not certainty. Belief.
Today, one member of the family teaches those lessons. Another shares them with students and families every day as a school leader. A third is preparing to carry them into college and beyond.
For them, BASIS Charter Schools has been more than a place to learn. It has been family.
For stories from across the BASIS Charter Schools network, read more in Network News.
