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The following article was published in the February issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

The Lady Falcons (9-8-1) came up short against Poway High School (8-7-2) on Feb.8, 2-1, in a back-and-forth affair that challenged both teams.

Neither team managed to score in the opening minutes, until Poway threaded the ball through the right side of the field. Ultimately, the ball deflected off center back Bailey Sayin (12) and rolled out of bounds, giving Poway a corner kick. But the Lady Falcons managed to clear the ball as soon as it was in play, eliminating Poway’s chance at scoring.

“I was worried because last time we played them they got a lot of corners and throw-ins and we did not deal with them well,” Sayin said. “So I was worried that this was going to be like the first time we played them, and we would have to be defending the whole time.”

After five minutes, the game grew more aggresive and both sides made a series of free kicks and through balls.

Abigail Palkowitz (12) made a promising attack. However, Poway intercepted the ball back and sent it downfield to its forward Jamie McCandless for a one-on-one scoring opportunity. TPHS goalkeeper Taylor Getz (12) charged off the goal line. McCandless was able to dribble around Getz and lofted a shot past Sayin, who was trailing Getz, for the game’s first score.

“After they scored first, we realized we needed to pick up our game,” outside left midfielder Eva Buechler (10) said.

Eleven minutes later, the Lady Falcons pieced together an offensive attack. A Lady Titan disrupted the pursuit with a hard slide, tackling Palkowitz in the box, and giving TPHS a penalty kick. Midfielder Anissa Dadkhah (10) converted to tie the game at one apiece.

Off a corner kick in the last few minutes of the first half, Poway midfielder Jill Godfrey crossed the ball and defender Maura Duggan headed it past goalie Getz for a 2-1 lead.

“I feel the defense played well, but we got unorganized at times because they were playing long ball, so they were able to get on the attack quicker, and we weren’t really able to get back in time,” Dadkhah said.

The disorganization led to the Lady Titans’ second goal and affected the Lady Falcons’ shape on the offensive half, according to Buechler.

“After we scored we were getting into our groove, but then they scored and after that I think we all kind of let down a little bit,” Buechler said.

Midfielder Erin Donnelly (12) nearly scored off a corner kick by Buechler, but the ball sailed just over the crossbar on what looked to be a promising header.

“I just wanted them to get in the box so we had a chance,” Donnelly said. “It was just kind of a bummer when the whole game was over because that was like our last big chance to tie the game up again.”

After a back-and-forth five minutes that included multiple shots on goal by both teams, the Lady Falcons were awarded a free kick and a potential scoring opportunity, but ended up being cleared away by the Titans.

“I think the team could’ve played a lot better,” Dadkah said. “Like getting the ball on the ground and playing our game, like passing the ball and not getting so frantic.”

After two strong offensive efforts by the Lady Falcons, the ball constantly switched between the TPHS and Poway sides of the field. With time waning, the Lady Falcons began to play more aggressively and received two yellow cards.

“It affected the players that got [the yellow cards] the most,” Sayin said. “And everyone was kind of frustrated with the referee.”

Although players were frustrated with the referee, TPHS head coach Martyn Hansford had a more sophisticated reason for the loss.

“It was just a contrasting style of play,” Hansford said. “They’re just booting the ball, long balls, big throw-ins and stuff, and we’re trying to get it down and play but it just wasn’t connected enough. … I’m not terribly disappointed, but we can definitely play a lot better than that.”

Ranked number three in their division, the Lady Falcons and Hansford agree that there is a lot to work on going into the final stretch of the season.

“We need to [continue to work on] connecting,” Hansford said. “We’ll do a little bit of work on how to deal with adversity, but I don’t think it’s a problem; it’s not like we are mentally weak. I mean we’re a tough team with a lot of character in there.”

The Lady Falcons played at Rancho Benardo High School on Feb. 13, after the Falconer went to press.

The following article was published in the January issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

Brett’s BBQ appears to be the stereotypical Southern barbeque restaurant. With wooden chairs, bricks on the walls and aged wall decor, this eatery has the look of a barbeque joint, but it doesn’t have the old, smoky feel to make it authentic.

We ordered at the cash register, and then quickly took our seats. My half order of ribs and chicken, a root beer and sides of macaroni and cheese, a corn bread muffin, french fries, and sweet potato fries cost about $25 and came to our table in 15 minutes.

The mac and cheese, a gob of questionably orange cheese  mashed in a plastic container, looked pitiful at first glance, but it was surprisingly rich and velvety. The fries were soggy and lacked any sort of special seasoning or sauce. The crumbling mound of cornbread was tasty, and surprisingly large for a single serving, but it was the sweet potato fries that took stood out in the entire meal. They were hot and tender, melting in my mouth and coating my taste buds in a savory flavor that I had never experienced with sweet potato fries before. The entrees were the next journey we embarked on after ravaging the sides. The chicken proved to be a delectable choice with its smooth texture and moistness, along with a little kick of heat at the end that left me wanting more. Then came the long-awaited ribs.

Before the first bite, I readied myself for the main course by drowning the ribs in sauce. With a creamy consistency, the sauce lived up to the promise of its tantalizing blood-red hue, typical for decent barbeque sauce. However, when I tried to take a bite with little to no sauce, the ribs were … eh. Rather than a tender, fall-off-the-bone consistency, the meat had a bizarre crunch. It was not flavorful at all without the sauce to acompany it, always an indicator that it is not the ribs that are good, but the sauce.

The restaurant’s disappointing appearance was only emphasized by the subpar food. All around, Brett’s came up short.

The following article was published in the December issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer, and cowritten with Michelle Oberman: 

Seventy-seven percent of TPHS graduates go on to four-year universities each year. Yet stress, parental pressure and competition all too often permeate that rarified population, as some TPHS students spend all of high school thinking about college.

“It was the same when I went here,” head counselor Brennan Dean said. “I graduated in ‘99, and there was an extreme focus on college then.”

Dean said most of the pressure stems from the home and community environment.

“The community has, for the last 10 or 15 years, had that focus,” Dean said. “We have a community with well-educated parents … what we’ve seen is kids who have been raised with the expectation that they will go to four-year colleges.”

Yet college admissions have become much more competitive over the past decade. Christopher Hamilton, president and CEO of Summa Education, which offers test preparation courses and college counseling, attributes this trend to demographics.

“Ivy Leagues, as recently as a decade ago, had 10,000 applicants; now they get 35,000.
UCLA used to get 35,000 applications; now they get 72,000,” Hamilton said.

Rachel*, who hopes to attend a prestigious university, said that the pressure she feels is “a combination of everything,” but comes mainly from friends and family.

The pressure is double-sided. While Dean said it is “great” that parents expect their children to attend college, as a result of these expectations, “some students put pressure on themselves to get into schools that may not be realistic.”

Hamilton said “a lot of students have crazy ideas about college.”

“They think they want to major in medicine, which is not possible in American schools, or [they think that] a good college list would be seven Ivies,” Hamilton said. “Students are very skeptical about colleges they’ve never heard of, but they’ve only heard of eight or nine schools.”

Michelle Martinelli (12), who was recruited to play water polo by Harvard University, said before she was recruited the college process was “overwhelming.”

“I didn’t know where I wanted to go, where was realistic, where was a reach school,” Martinelli said. “Deciding I wanted to play water polo in college really helped me.”

Much of the hype surrounding “good” colleges comes from the colleges themselves.

“Colleges spend millions of dollars marketing and advertising to high school students,” Hamilton said. “Colleges market to students for reasons that are idealistic and also cynical.”

According to Hamilton, in order to improve selectivity and thus their position on U.S. News annual rankings, colleges want more students to apply because they more rejections make them look more exclusive.

Watching her classmates excel under the pressure of getting into college has driven Rachel to pursue success.

“You see everyone else excelling at so many different things. You have to excel, too to be competitive,” Rachel said.
Many students would admit  they feel pushed sometimes, and Rachel is no exception. On a 10-point scale, she usually ranks her stress as a six or seven, though it “fluctuates” from a five to a 10.

Unlike Rachel, who thinks about college “all the time,” John Stucky (10) is only “somewhat” concerned about college at this point, even though he wants to end up at Stanford University.

“I am not very stressed. I get enough sleep, and I am not too overwhelmed by homework,” Stucky said.

Still, Stucky does believe that “grades are crucial to a successful future,” and he feels pressure to do well academically because of his family’s expectations and goals for the future.

While many students share Stucky’s sentiment, others disagree about just how important high school grades are.

“I’m in between [caring and not caring] about school. I get decent grades; I’m just not a straight-A student or a bad student,” Uri Bialostozky (11) said. “It’s not that big of a concern to me where I go for my first two years of college because your first two years in college are general studies, anyway.”

Along with having good grades, selective colleges also expect students to be well-rounded, as admissions officers look to build a class of passionate, interesting people. While well-intended, this attitude often backfires, as some students participate in extracurricular activities solely because they think it will help them get into college.

“I continued the Spanglish club that my friend started last year purely for college reasons,” Bialostozky said. “I also do a leadership program on Saturdays … where I am a counselor, and that looks very good for college because I get a ton of community service hours out of it. That’s why I do it.”

Yet some believe that students who work to have the best possible test scores or the longest list of extracurriculars miss the big picture.

“University of Chicago received 300 applications with perfect SATs and rejected 60 percent.
To me, that’s not a bad thing,” Hamilton said.
“Colleges don’t really care about perfect scores and grades. [Colleges] are really looking for true contributors and leaders … [and] are getting better and better about seeing who is an amazing person and not just trying to impress colleges.”

According to an admissions officer at a selective California college, who asked that neither he nor the school be identified, schools seek out enthusiastic students. Though it can be difficult to tell who does their activities just for college, the admissions officer said that college essays can help them determine how genuine the applicant is.

“We prefer people that are actually passionate about their activities, although it is difficult to see who is and who isn’t,” the admissions officer said.

Though Rachel said she knows many people who do activities just to attract colleges, she is not one of them.

“I got started in a lot of things for college, [but] I stopped doing it for college when I [actually] started enjoying it,” Rachel said.

Some people are just happy that students are involved in the community at all, no matter what their reasons.

Stucky said that, although some students may do activities for the wrong reasons, “at least they are getting involved.”

As the statistics indicate, getting into college is not likely to get easier. The only possibility for change is how students react under the pressure, perhaps learning that life, not college applications, should come first.

*Name changed at interviewee’s request

The following article was published in the November issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

It was a good day, and I had been in a great mood. So of course, when I was asked to try ballet, I thought it would be very humorous and I obliged. But as the ballet class approached, reality set in.

Like I said, my initial thought was that doing ballet would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but then I realized what I had signed up for: I had agreed to go to a dance studio and partake in a one-hour Beginning Ballet class of mostly 8-year-old girls.

The only thing I knew about ballet was based on what I had seen my girlfriend, Savanna, do at her recital months before. Even then, as I noticed the shocked stares fixed upon me, I did not think ballet would be that difficult. The girls did have a grace about them, but what I pondered was: Would it really be that hard to learn the basics? I knew I would not be anywhere near my girlfriend’s level, but I thought I could get a good sense of the rigor in one class and not make a complete ass of myself. I was wrong.

On the way to class Saturday morning, I tried to be as masculine as I could. I blasted some Dubsteb music to look tough while texting my girlfriend. However, I soon realized what was really going on: I was a 15-year-old boy being driven by his mom to a ballet class, while rocking out in the car. I was about to endure an emasculating experience, and I would just have to come to terms with that.

As I got out of the car, reality struck me. All I could see were 7-and 8-year-olds in their ballet attire. I introduced myself to the teacher, was shown where to stand, and the experience began.

Some simple side-to-side movements started off the class, including a move called releve, which incorporates standing on your tippy toes and a couple of easy foot formations. I felt pretty confident and began to wonder why I had been so worried in the first place.

As the girls began to take notice that next to their tiny friends was a 6-foot tall boy, the teacher, Ronin Kohler, addressed the class.

“Fernando will be joining us today, and he’s going to try his very best to keep up with us,” Kohler said.

I thought to myself how embarrassing it would be for me not to be able to keep up with 8-year-old dancers, and I chuckled.

That was when things started to go poorly. Music was implemented, and we began more complicated movements. All the terminology was in French — needless to say I did not understand any of it — but all the girls knew what it meant. I was not only being schooled by their dancing abilities, but also by their foreign language skills. I felt compelled to express that I was fluent in Spanish, but I realized that it would be a little bit weird to brag to a bunch of 8-year-olds. It seemed as if I was being emasculated on two levels.

As the exercises became more complex, the girls began to take more notice of me. They would glance in my direction and giggle. Some seemed to laugh right in my face, except for one girl.

She was not like the other girls; she did not laugh, but simply observed me. When we were told to go into fifth position, which entails having the heel touching the opposite foot’s toe, she aided me.

“Other foot,” she whispered.

Eventually, I started to get the hang of the routine we had been doing for five minutes.

“Very good,” the teacher said.

I never thought I would hear those two words in a ballet class.

As we moved into more complicated exercises like the plie, in which we bent down to our knees, the giggles became eruptions of laughter.

The girls were blatantly laughing out loud. One girl even had the audacity to point at me. I was not mad, but embarrassed. I was getting laughed at by 8-year-old ballerinas. Thankfully, the little girl continued to help me through it.

“Are you going to be here every Saturday?” she asked with an excited look on her face.

“Nope,” I said contently.

I was being laughed at, but the little girl still wanted me to come to classes. Maybe I was just a form of entertainment.

As the class continued, the humiliation did not cease. From the corner of my eye all I saw was my mom laughing and taking pictures, little girls laughing at me, and very confused parents.

Moves became more difficult as we executed the difficult twirls, leaps and toe touches, all to the music’s rhythm.

The class finally ended. I said goodbye to my little friend after taking a group picture with the class, and I was on my way.

I left with a newfound respect for ballet, and reluctantly sent a text to my girlfriend.

“Ballet is a lot harder than I thought.”

The following article was published in the November issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

The Falcons (4-5) struggled to keep up with Ramona High School (5-4) after a lackluster first quarter, and lost 38-24 on Oct. 26.

The following article was published in the November issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer, and was cowritten with Cory Lomberg: 

In movies and TV shows, middle school realtionships are always lighthearted. A string of awkward interactions and text messages hold the relationship together, while the mature subject of sex is rarely discussed. At 14, Dana* did not expect sex to play a monumental role in her first relationship. Dana said that after dating for six months, sexual tension threatened her relationship, and the couple thought just having sex might relieve the pressure.

“I know now that I really wasn’t mature enough,” Dana said. “I don’t even know what [my boyfriend and I] were thinking when we made the decision to have sex. Either we both thought we were ready, or we just weren’t thinking at all.”

According to Dr. Francine Martinez, a San Diego-based psychologist who specializes in peer relationships, the effects of sex on a couple depend on the stability of the relationship itself.

“[Sex] can be a learning experience of how intimacy is not just physical,” Martinez said. “Intimacy is trust, and in order for a relationship to be solid, there has to be communication and trust on multiple levels.”

While Dana and her boyfriend decided suddenly to have sex, Jill’s* foray into sexual activity was carefully planned. Jill became sexually active with her long-distance boyfriend at the age of 15. She believed sex would compensate for their geographical distance, and does not regret the experience, especially since she said she and her boyfriend were in love.

“My mom always told me that whoever you have sex with for the first time, you should love deeply,” Jill said. “So, I’m glad it was him.”

Both Dana and Jill chose to have sex to stregthen their emotional connections with their partners. Despite their efforts, their attempts proved that sex can negatively affect relationships just as easily as it can improve them.

“Sex was not the only reason [my boyfriend and I] broke up, but it was definitely a contributing factor,” Dana said. “Because having sex was such a big step, I thought it would change our relationship for the better, but it actually ended up changing it in a negative way. Having sex made us fight more, and we didn’t even know why. Even at times when it brought us closer, it seemed to add stress to the relationship.”

Two months after first having sex, the couple broke up. As they entered high school, the pair struggled to mend ties, according to Dana. While they wanted to stay friends, their past stood in the way of a casual friendship and of their new relationships.

“After that relationship ended, I had another boyfriend,” Dana said. “Even though I had ended the other relationship months before, I always compared the two. In the end that’s why I couldn’t move on [and broke up with my second boyfriend] … I haven’t had sex with anyone since.”

Chad* was in a relationship for about eight months when he and his girlfriend decided to have sex.

“At first, it did not quite strengthen or weaken my connection with my partner,” Chad said. “It was not a very big development in our relationship. The whole thing is hyped-up a bunch and then when it happens, it’s like: ‘That’s it?’ In the short window of [our relationship after this], maybe four months after it happened … there was not a significant change in my emotional attachment to her. It was more like a check off of the bucket list. It was something she wanted to do because of curiosity or whatever.”

Martinez maintains that all relationships, even those of high school students, can thrive without sex.

“Other than peer pressure or other feelings of guilt, if both people really believe that they want to maintain abstinence, then the relationship will support and will hold,” Martinez said.

Victor Hakim (12) believes that teenagers in relationships should wait to engage in sexual activity until they reach adulthood.

“There’s a big difference between teenage years and adulthood,” Hakim said. “The blatant difference is a dramatic shift into an independent lifestyle. I don’t think we can justifiably expect two 16-year-olds to mutually exchange something this awesome and then just go home in the domain of their own parents, separated from each other by familial expectations and curfew laws.”

While some couples choose to engage in sexual activity, there are obvious precautions that need to be considered. Dr. Alfredo Ratniewski, Chief Medical Officer of the Borrego Community Health Foundation, offered some words of caution about engaging in sexual activity at a young age.

“Many people get anxious or nervous or worried, and [regret] what they did,” Ratniewski said. “Sometimes as a teenager, you are not mature enough to take precautions that would preclude you from contracting a specific disease, like sexually transmitted infections,” Ratniewski said. “You might not take precautions and end up with an unwanted pregnancy. If some people are not mature enough [to take the necessary precautions], it might have psychological effects.”

Ratniewski also believes that some of the most common contraception tactics are not the most effective. While many high school couples exclusively use condoms as protection against pregnancy and STIs, other forms of contraception, including birth control pills, yield better protection results. Ratniewski recommends using two separate contraception techniques at once.

Despite the potential consequences of sexual activity, Dana and Jill believe that the emotional and physical tensions that came along with becoming sexually active helped them mature. From middle school relationships to relationships approaching adulthood, sex is an unavoidable topic and not at all like in the movies.

*name changed to protect identity

The following article was published in the November issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

At first glance, Spices Thai Café might not seem like the most appealing restaurant, but it presents a much more delectable experience then one might assume. Don’t be fooled by its modest, outward appearance, for this eatery is sure to exceed expectations.

The following article was published in the October issue of the Torrey Pines Falconer: 

Unable to rally their offense, the visiting Falcons (2-2) lost to the Vista High School Panthers (1-2) in their Sept. 21 football game, 2-0.

“Vista is a very talented team and [today’s game] was just two good teams going at it,” TPHS head coach Scott Ashby said. “We knew it was going to be a very defensive game because games against Vista always are, but it came down to us committing too many mistakes.”

The Falcons’ first drive fell flat after two unsuccessful halfback runs and a failed quarterback draw. However, their fortunes turned when TPHS defensive back Jackson Gentes (12), picked off Panther quarterback Davin Lemon-Rodriguez.

“It was their first play on offense, and it was play action, so I stayed deep and made a play on the ball, but couldn’t get a return because the receiver tackled me right away,” Gentes said.

However, the Falcons failed to capitalize, punting the ball after two runs that resulted in minimal yardage and a failed pass.

“We just had a lot of silly mistakes and just stupid-ass things that happened, and that’s what really kills you,” TPHS offensive tackle Jacob Alsadek (12) said.

Alsadek, who had a gruesome pinky injury for which the bone had to be moved back into place by medical personnel, played a large part in the game. He anchored the Falcons’ offensive line, minimizing penetration, giving quarterback Mike Ward (12) plenty of time to throw and allowing no sacks.

Just before halftime, Collin Brown (12) recovered a fumble, but TPHS failed to put anything together on offense while pinned deep in their own territory. The Falcons were forced to punt on their own 1-yard line. Long snapper Jackson Morrison (12) snapped the ball low, and punter Spencer Brewster (12) was forced to throw the ball out of the end zone, avoiding a Panther’s touchdown, but giving up a safety — the only score of the night.

Morrison declined to comment on the play.

“Our defense played great. They didn’t let up any points,” Ward said. “We just had a lot of stupid penalties … Vista just wanted it more, and they were disciplined and didn’t have those penalties like us.”

After forcing a fumble, TPHS managed to get close enough to attempt a field goal to take the lead. To their dismay, the 39-yard attempt fell short, and the Falcons were unable to score for the rest of the game.

“I hit the ground before connecting with the ball, and that is what caused me to shank it,” said Brown, also the Falcons’ kicker. “I was disappointed because I blew my chance to take the lead.”

The Falcons will take on Mt. Carmel High School (3-1) today for this year’s Homecoming matchup.

“We are going to have to eliminate mistakes [to beat Mt. Carmel],” Ashby said.

The game will be at Ed Burke Stadium.

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