THE TELESCOPE | MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 2|CAMPUS BEATTake a moment Nov. 11 to observe Veterans Day

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Explore Darwin with Behavioral Sciences Dept.

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Bamboo guru to host seminar Nov. 13

MONDAYNOV. 8, 2010

VOLUME 64NUMBER 8

FOCUSED ON PALOMAR ADDRESS | The Telescope, Palomar College1140 W. Mission Road, San Marcos, CA 92069NEWSROOM | Room MB-1PHONE | (760) 891-7865FAX | (760) 891-3401E-MAIL | telescope@palomar.eduADVERTISING E-MAIL | telescopead@palomar.edu

EDITOR IN CHIEF | ERIC WALKER NEWS / MANAGING EDITOR | KELLEY FOYT CAMPUS BEAT EDITOR | MELISSA CASTON OPINION EDITOR | YVONNE LANOT ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR | MELINA FICKAS IN DEPTH EDITOR| BELINDA CALLIN SPORTS EDITOR | MATTHEW SLAGLE ONLINE EDITOR | DANIEL MARTIN

MANAGING EDITOR/ ADS | SARA BURBIDGE PHOTO EDITOR | DEB HELLMAN MULTIMEDIA EDITOR | LOGHAN CALL ASST. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR | GRAIANNE WARD ASST. NEWS EDITORS | SYDNIE TAYLOR, DAVID LEONARD INSTRUCTIONAL ASST. | CHARLES STEINMAN JOURNALISM ADVISER | ERIN HIRO

STAFF WRITERS |

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS |

The Telescope is published 11 times per semester. Opinions expressed in the newspaper are those of the individual writers and do not

necessarily represent those of the entire newspaper staff, Palomar faculty and staff members or the governing board trustees.

CFAC

What’s your biggest complaint about Palomar?

“ Palomar is pretty good. School parking could be better though.”

“ The fact that they are constantly doing construction is something that Palomar should change.”

“It’s ridiculous how hard it is to get into classes.” “It bothers me that they don’t

stop people from smoking in non-designated areas.”

“ The book pricing is expensive And I don’t like that there’s no option in spiritual, it seems to slant toward more wordly options.”

OPINION| 3MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 | THE TELESCOPE

OUR VIEWPOINT

Quick, hide your children! There’s a terrifying addiction out to get you and your family. Or is there?

The American Psychiatric Soci-ety has yet to classify it as addictive, but video game playing has many qualities in common with addic-tions such as drugs and gambling. I can already see any gamers reading this rolling their eyes and swearing they aren’t addicted. Humor me.

Gaming addiction is real, but it’s not usually world-shatteringly bad.

Recently, a mother in Jackson-ville, Fla. killed her baby after its crying interrupted a rousing ses-sion of “FarmVille.” Experts like psychologist Michelle Goland have attributed this action to gaming ad-diction — it’s not always harmless.

Addiction can also have non-fatal consequences: Quinn Pitcock of the Seattle Seahawks gave up football temporarily for his gaming habit.

But that’s not to say that gaming is a cocaine-like plague that should be eradicated. There is a middle ground. Gaming can be an addic-tion and needs to be viewed as such, but that can’t be taken too far.

The science of addiction is rather complicated, but to put it simply, the sensation of pleasure comes from the release of dopamine. Known triggers include sexual activity, gam-bling, and yes, even video games.

Obviously, drugs can be addic-tive. Some people even get addicted to exercise. Tune in to the radio and you’re bound to hear at least one commercial about gambling addic-tion. Nymphomania is certainly a real thing, and far more devastating

than the average frat-boy’s under-standing of it.

But while all of those get di-agnosed and have public-service announcements, the only people attacking gamers are soccer moms and insane lawyers. When all of the opposition is crazy, it’s easy to over-look them and buy into the gamers’ “I swear it’s not addictive!” mantra.

Remember that drug addictions lead to a cornucopia of health prob-lems, nymphomania leads to STDs and broken marriages, but gaming, for the most part, only leads to sore thumbs from button-mashing.

Even if it is harmless for most people, the addiction still exists. It’s important to remain mindful of the balance. Don’t just sit on your couch playing “Halo” all day — but don’t stage an intervention if your room-mate does the same.

The delicate balance of video game addiction

Admins out of touch To the students of Palomar: Hello, my name is Jorge Alvarado. You may not know me, but you may have seen me. Every day that I am on campus at some point during the day I lay down a flower for my friend at Palomar’s war memorial.

Often, I think of his sacrifice, as well as the sacrifice of all the other men whose names are written there. As I stand before it, I am deeply sad-dened by the losses our country has endured. However, I am saddened even more by the apathy and lack of respect I have seen students show in the presence of the war memorial.

Many times I have seen students smoke in front of the memorial, and leave cigarette butts on the ground in front of it, along with bottles and food wrappers. Worse yet is that of-ten people will lean things against it — or lean on it themselves.

The men whose names are writ-ten there, along with their families, paid the ultimate price for our free-

dom. They were once brothers, hus-bands, fathers and friends. Sadly, to many Palomar students, they are just names on a wall.

I do not ask that you stop in front of the memorial as I do. All I ask is that you join me in safeguarding the war memorial from inappropri-

ate behavior and help keep its sur-rounding area free of garbage.

In doing so we honor the ones whose names are written there for their sacrifice and ultimate sacri-fice for our country.

Letter to Editor:

| THE TELESCOPE

THE TELESCOPE

Something is wrong at Palomar. One part of the college machine isn’t in balance, and it’s throwing off the timing of all the others.

That unbalanced piece is the ad-ministration.

In its actions and its rhetoric, the administration has consistently shown it is disconnected from the needs of the student body, and that it prefers to stay that way. In this issue, The Tele-scope offered to the student body two in-depth examinations of this discon-nect: college president Robert Dee-gan accepting a pay increase amidst repeated requests from his office for “austerity,” and the administration’s shuttering of the Associated Student Government.

Both exposés belay the same prob-lem: the administration is out of touch.

The students understood the budget was tight this semester, and tenuously accepted that classes had to be cut in response. The faculty has willingly accepted deferment of con-tractually promises to help the college governing board and administration make it through these hard times.

Why, then, did the college presi-dent accept a raise in pay and ben-efits amounting to five percent over the next year.

Deegan has offered numerous jus-tifications for this raise: his salary was low compared to local college presi-dents, he hoped to make his pay more competitive and his efforts at the col-lege were deserving of recognition.

Individually, these justifications are compelling. However, when con-sidered in the context of an obvious budget crunch, they are woefully in-adequate. And while Deegan has of-fered to defer this raise, the terms of that deferral are neither official nor well understood.

Our system has a body in place to address such concerns and work to correct them: the ASG. The purpose of this body is to represent the will of the students, and attempt to enact that will within the bureaucratic sys-tem at the college.

The ASG, however, has been stifled by the administration. As we report in this issue, the ASG senate, which

votes on all matters of importance to the organization, is mostly vacant. The committee that authorizes candidates for the senate is composed of three students, one administrator, and one staff member. This isn’t a full repre-sentation of our 33,000 students.

The grey and white text on the front page isn’t gibberish. It’s from a speech by Mario Savio to a group of UC Berkeley activists who sought to fight against their administration’s at-tempt to silence the students.

Savio said, “There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious — makes you so sick at heart — that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to in-dicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.”

We implore the students at Palo-mar to heed those words. Individually, our voices are easily ignored, but when united into a chorus of frustration and anger and desire for a change, we can-not be pushed aside.

We cannot place the blame on the ASG, instead we must build upon them. Sherry Titus said the ASG can be the most powerful group at Palo-mar because it represents the largest group on campus. But first we must make sure they can represent us.

This is a call to action.We implore you, be you a student,

staff member or someone unaffiliated with the college: look around you. Be aware of the problems in the system. Read the newspapers, ask questions and demand to be heard.

The first step to fix Palomar is for the students, the real constituents of the college, to speak up.

Go to Deegan’s office and ask why he accepted that raise. Attend the ASG meeting and ask why there are only two senators out of a possible 14.

The fact is, if we don’t demand the change, if we don’t ask the hard ques-tions, nobody will. And that would mean a true failure of the system.

THE TELESCOPE | MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010| NEWS4

Our president’s price

Palomar president Robert Dee-gan accepted an increase in pay and benefits in May 2010 after more than a year of rhetoric stressing the tightness of the college budget.

The timing of the raise has brought scathing criticism from unions representing the college fac-ulty and staff. The Palomar Faculty Federation and the Council of Clas-sified Employees, which represents the faculty and classified staff mem-bers respectively, have expressed their concerns to the Governing Board, Deegan and The Telescope.

Deegan contended that he is among the lowest-paid community college presidents in San Diego County, and that his increased sal-ary and benefits package were ne-gotiated to make his compensation more competitive and keep him at Palomar.

Deegan has offered to defer any additional payment from the new contract, in recognition of the tight-ness of the college budget.

“I did not accept a penny in ad-ditional payment at this time,” Dee-gan said.

The terms of the deferral were not made immediately clear, howev-er. In a May 2010 email to Palomar Faculty and staff, Deegan wrote, “I am requesting that the Governing Board defer my salary step increas-es.”

However, both Evilsizer and board Executive Assistant Josie Silva stated they had not seen any official documentation regarding the deferral.

Deegan has offered no specific terms regarding the deferral to union groups or The Telescope. In response to questions, he said only that he would not be taking any ad-ditional payments until the college was in a better financial situation, and that he would take retroactive

pay when that time came.“I will be taking the increase in

salary I received in the contract,” Deegan said. He added, “I did not want to be greedy, it wasn’t some outrageous contract.”

Deegan did not make reference to whether or not he would accept additional cell phone or car allow-ances, and could not be reached for comment on the matter by press time.

The primary concern, according to both groups, was that the raise came at a time when the adminis-tration was stressing the tightness of the budget.

“We spent two years in budget cut mode. We were to the point where we were down to the bare bones. It was really hard on ev-erybody,” PFF president Shayla Sivert said. Sivert, who took over the role of PFF president this fall, has been very vocal in her opposi-tion to Deegan’s new contract.

According to Sivert, the PFF had agreed to defer some “growth money,” an increase in pay the college agreed to pay the faculty in their contract, in 2009 on the grounds that the college was fac-ing tough economic times.

“(This fall), there was suddenly a $12 million ending fund balance,” Sivert said, expressing concern that the college “seems to manage its budget a little too well.”

The classified staff has also ex-pressed their concern at Deegan receiving a raise in a time of tight budgeting.

“It boggles the mind that the governing board was willing to give it all away,” CCE president Neill Kovrig said. “(The money) could be used to increase classes, hire more faculty, hire in the classified unit.”

While the classified staff has been paid according to the terms of its contract, a hiring freeze institut-ed due to budget problems has in-creased the workload of many staff members, according to Kovrig.

“The extra work gets put onto the backs of everyone else,” Kovrig said.

The Palomar Governing Board offered Deegan the raise because they wanted to ensure he wouldn’t leave Palomar, according to board Vice President Mark Evilsizer.

“We want to keep (Deegan). We support our president,” Evilsizer said.

Deegan would not directly an-swer questions about whether he would have left Palomar if not for the raise in salary and benefits.

“I’m very happy at Palomar Col-lege,” Deegan said. “My intent in negotiations was to stay at the col-lege.”

The PFF has expressed confu-sion over the nature of Deegan’s pay increase, as defined in the contract.

The contract allows Deegan to begin taking “step” increases in salary, or increases based upon the amount of time an individual is em-ployed at the college, equivalent to those of a first-year faculty mem-ber.

According to Sivert, pay increas-es at this new staff “step” level are much larger than at other, higher levels on the faculty pay schedule.

The pay increase for the first year would amount to 4.3 percent, according to numbers listed in a fac-ulty salary schedule made available on the Palomar Human Resources

website. With Deegan’s original sal-ary in the contract at $223,041.73, a 4.3 percent raise after one year would amount to an increase in pay of $9,590.

“He is choosing the part of the matrix where increases are the greatest,” PFF negotiator Teresa Laughlin said.

Deegan said he deserves such increases because he was never allowed to tie his pay to a step in-crease schedule for the six years he has worked at the college.

“There were never any step in-creases in the first five years of con-tracts,” Deegan said.

The contract also provides Dee-gan with a number of further ben-efits, including cell phone and car

allowances, and lifetime health benefits for both himself and his wife. The PFF and CCE have questioned the reasoning be-hind offering Deegan lifetime health benefits when he has only worked at the college for six years.

“If you were hired before 1994, and you work at Palomar for more than 20 years, you get lifetime benefits,” Sivert said. She added that faculty mem-bers are no longer afforded such benefits if they were hired more

recently than 1994.Deegan explained that the life-

time health benefits were provided to him in recognition of his 30 years of service in the California com-munity college system, six of which were at Palomar.

“What I negotiated was for someone who has worked at the college for 30 years,” Deegan said. “This is my 31st year in community colleges.”

Kovrig expressed frustration with this standard.

“We don’t get to carry that around with us,” Kovrig said. “Ex-cept for Deegan.”

Evilsizer said the board would not offer faculty and staff who had been in the community college sys-tem at large for more than 20 years the same lifetime health benefits if

they requested them.“That’s a negotiated item, so no,”

he said.

Deegan has said one of the rea-sons he took the pay increase was because it was a way to make his sal-ary more competitive, and keep it in line with the salaries of community college executive administrators.

An analysis of presidents’ sala-ries in other single-college com-munity districts with similar en-rollments to Palomar has shown Deegan’s current $223,041.73 pay is not currently dissimilar from that of his peers.

The president of El Camino Com-munity College District, which has similar enrollment and staff num-bers to Palomar, made $276,905 in 2010, according to a survey by the Association of California Commu-nity College Administrators.

The president of Pasadena Community College District made $195,000, and the president Long Beach Community College District made $235,040 in the same year ac-cording to the same ACCCA survey.

Deegan’s pay is not, however, substantially lower than that of oth-er community college executives in similar districts.

According to numbers compiled by the PFF from the April 2008 governing board meeting minutes, Deegan is the fifth highest compen-sated president of the Gooder Col-leges, a group of colleges that are similar to Palomar in composition and budget.

In general, the staff groups ex-plained that their issue was not with the increase specifically, but with its handling and timing.

“It’s not the money, it’s not the pay, it’s timing and the fact that it seemed pretty disrespectful,” Laughlin said. “We aren’t all in this together. Here we are in a sinking ship, and (Deegan) took the only lifeboat.”

Kovrig echoed these sentiments.“The timing was atrociously

bad,” he said. “It was almost insult-ing in a way.”

The PFF representatives, both current and former, expressed ex-asperation that the increase in pays and benefits was offered while the faculty was facing extremely tight budgeting.

“The administration as a whole is basically out of touch with what’s going on in the classroom and on the ground,” former PFF president Shannon Lienhart said.

Deegan said he felt that the pay increase was not unreasonable or untoward, and that he understood the precarious state of the budget.

Both Deegan and Evilsizer said the changes were put through at the end of the Spring 2010 semester be-cause Deegan’s contract was on an annual review cycle.

“It was a regularly scheduled an-nual review,” Evilsizer said.

“My contract was going to ex-pire, and was renegotiated for one year,” Deegan said.

Representatives of the PFF and CCE said this wasn’t a justification for raising Deegan’s pay.

“(The executive administration) was sounding the death knell of the budget,” Kovrig said. “The run around is getting old. It’s wearing on morale.”

THE TELESCOPE

| THE TELESCOPE

“We aren’t all in this

together. Here we are

in a sinking ship, and

(Deegan) took the only

lifeboat.

”

Controversy surrounds Palomar president’s raise, unions and staff alike concerned

5MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 | THE TELESCOPE NEWS |

Students and faculty said last week that they are concerned about how the Associated Student Gov-ernment appoints its members.

At the beginning of the semes-ter, there were three senators, Cas-sandra Padilla, Juan Sanchez, and August Williams, leaving 11 open seats. Six students applied and none were appointed. Williams resigned on Oct. 18.

Williams said he left because he felt it was unfair to have one fourth of the vote for the students at Palo-mar.

This leaves 12 open senate seats in the ASG currently. By this time last year, at least 10 of the seats were filled.

According to Sherry Titus, the director of Student Affairs and the adviser to the ASG, the year usu-ally starts out with a smaller board, because most senators graduate or transfer.

ASG officials maintain they are being picky in their selection for the good of the board, critics coun-ter that they are playing politics and keeping out those who might have dissenting voices.

Titus said the reason for such few

applicants is because Palomar does not have on-campus housing and many students commute. Another reason she mentioned was that most students don’t stay at Palomar for very long. As a two year school, most students transfer or graduate from Palomar after two or three years.

Of the six applicants for sena-tor positions, five were appointed as delegates. The delegate require-ments are more lenient than for a senator but comes with less respon-sibilities. Notably, they cannot vote on board decisions.

The remaining ASG senator ap-plicant, Javier Tovar, was denied any role in ASG.

Tovar, who is an active member of Encuentros, a nonprofit designed to help Latino males get into college, and an avid student activist, said he feels he was unjustly denied.

“I made it clear to them that I made their minimum require-ments,” Tovar said.

These requirements include the availability to have three scheduled office hours, to attend the ASG meetings every Wednesday and maintain a GPA of 2.5.

According to Article V Section 05.01.091 of the ASG bylaws, “Va-cancies among the 14 senator posi-

tions will be filled as they become available from the list of qualified applicants for the position.”

When asked about Tovar, mem-bers of ASG stated that even with the student’s permission, they can’t disclose the reasoning behind his denied appointment. Channing Shattuck, the ASG president, stated that due to the results of Tovar’s ap-plication, he somehow did not meet the requirements.

The appointment committee de-cides who gets to be a senator. The committee consists of the ASG Pres-ident, the Vice-President, an ASG senator appointed to the board, the Director of Student Affairs, and the Coordinator of Student Activities.

Physics professor Daniel Finken-thal said the problem lies outside of the students in ASG. His belief is that the administration has been known to isolate and exclude any-one who “colors outside the line.”

“It makes no sense that a com-mittee of officers can pick the sena-tors that are by the very definition representatives of the students, and not of the ASG. The result is that you get a monotonous senate that lacks any diversity and all credibil-ity,” Finkenthal said.

Williams said he is also con-

cerned with the procedures ASG takes to appoint senators.

“If you have three people that can constantly push votes, people can have their own agendas pushed,” Williams said. He also clarified that this is not an accusation, but a fear of what could happen.

Titus said she makes sure that this kind of thing does not happen. As adviser to ASG, one of her duties is to make sure the students in ASG act fairly on the board. She makes sure they keep their integrity when on the appointment committee.

Senator Juan Sanchez is on the appointment committee, and said it is unfortunate there are fewer sena-tors this year, but wants to make sure hard working students with good leadership skills will join.

“There is no room for a weak link,” Sanchez said.

According to Padilla, even though there was a full senate last year, only five of the senators did anything substantial.

Sanchez confirmed this, and said that he wants a full senate, but he does not want senators who won’t do anything.

ASG holds a public meeting ev-ery Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in SU-204.

THE TELESCOPE

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| THE TELESCOPE

|IN DEPTH THE TELESCOPE | MONDAY, NOV. 8, 20106

Quitting a best friend

Quitting smoking is more than just a habit to

many smokers, to some it is more like quitting a friend.

Smoking harms nearly ev-ery major organ of the body, often in profound ways, caus-ing many diseases and signifi-

cantly diminishing the health of smokers in general, according to the Surgeon General.

But try to tell that to Jane. “My lip was fat and bleed-

ing, it was awkward holding the cigarette in my mouth and it took

me a few seconds to actually get it lit. My hands were shaking and my fingers were wet from crying and rubbing my eyes. I remember it was cold and I really didn’t know where I was. I had just gotten out of the car and took off,” Jane said.

Jane, who didn’t want her real name

in print, had her lip busted by her boy-

friend that night. This was an ongoing thing

for her. “People who haven’t

ever smoked will never understand what a cigarette is, what it

means,” Jane said. Jane called it “a friend, something that

was there when a comforting hand couldn’t be found.”

She never mentioned how much damage she was doing to herself.

There are 1.1 billion smokers in the world today, and if current trends continue, that number is ex-pected to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2025,

according to the website about.com.A study that measured nicotine dependence,

stress and coping methods found smokers were sig-nificantly more likely to report smoking more ciga-rettes per day while trying to quit.

They also reported greater levels of perceived stress and less use of cognitive coping methods than quitters or non-smokers, according to John J. Koval and Linda L. Pederson from the University of Western Ontario.

Jane said she did it for “some peace and fucking quiet.”

The Preston definition of addiction is “being ab-normally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs).”

Tobacco use primarily begins in early adoles-cence, typically by age 16. Almost all first use occurs before high school graduation and 20 percent of American teens smoke.

Despite the knowledge that it is addictive and leads to disease, six million teens in the U.S. smoke, according to smoking-facts.net.

Jane quit smoking 17 years ago and she quit her abusive boyfriend at the same time.

“There is never a day when you are going to wake up and never have a bad day again,” Jane said. “I realized that there was never going to be that just perfect day I should quit smok-ing.”

But for Jane the most noted benefit to her recovery was her feeling of self worth. “It’s the

hardest thing I have ever done, but it’s also one of the most rewarding,” Jane said.

The American Cancer society cited the emo-tional benefits from quitting smoking is a feeling of increased self control, increased happiness and positive change in self image.

Jane said when she thinks back to that dark time in her life she “can’t believe (I) stuck around in such a horrible, abusive relationship, both my ex-boyfriend and smoking.”

When cigarettes are more than an addiction

THE TELESCOPE

72 hours

10 days

2-4 weeks

1 year

after quitting, your entire body will test 100 percent nicotine-free and over 90 percent of all nicotine metabolites will have passed from the body via your urine. Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and the lungs functional abilities are starting to increase, ac-cording to whyquit.com.

after ceasing to smoke the average ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day, each less than 3 minutes and recovery has likely progressed to the point where your addiction is no longer doing the talking. Blood circulation in the gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user.

after the last cigarette, cessation related symptoms: anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression have ended.

of not smoking reduces excess risk of coronary heart disease to less than half that of a smoker. As the human body starts to recover, the most noticeable changes smokers experience is the intensity of taste and smell. Increased energy is also on the list.

| THE TELESCOPE

“People who haven’t ever smoked will never understand what a cigarette is, what it means.”

Attending college is the first step to finding a career, and personality tests like the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator

direct students further, according to Career Center counselors.

“A key factor for students is to take some career assessment,” ca-reer center coordinator Eddie Tubbs said, “and not just the Meyers-Briggs.”

At Palomar, the Meyers-Briggs personality test is one part of a four-session course where students work with counselors to find their best-suited career path.

Tubbs suggested students take the free personality tests offered in the career center called Eureka and Please Understand Me.

The course, Counseling 165 Ca-reer Search, is one unit and can be taken online or in person.

Counseling 165 is a better option for students than just taking the Meyers-Briggs personality test on their own because it includes follow up with career counselors, accord-ing to Tubbs.

The course also teaches interview skills, resume writing and a full anal-ysis of personality test results.

The Meyers-Briggs personality test results are 10 pages long, and can be cumbersome to individuals who haven’t been trained to decode the complex content.

Student Nathan Scott is current-ly enrolled in the course and would recommend it to students searching for a career path.

“We’ve been to the career center and the textbook walks you through different career options,” said Scott, who is currently deciding between pharmaceutical and pharmacy sales.

Isabel Briggs Meyers and Katha-rine Briggs developed the report over 60 years ago. The mother-daughter team researched person-ality types through biographies and field research, according to the Cen-ter for Applications of Psychological Types website .

Their works were based on the in-depth observations of Carl Jung, who released the English translation of his book “Psychologi-cal Types” in 1923.

Briggs’ original findings were an analysis of Jung’s works, who be-lieved the subconscious was an indi-cation of human behavior.

Jung believed that one could an-alyze his/her subconscious to define other behaviors and control these behaviors through therapy appeal-ing to the artistic side of the brain.

The test can help students be-cause it gets deep into the subcon-scious to examine behaviors that would please the individual and environments the individual may thrive in.

The test breaks down personal-ity types into a combination of eight traits: extraversion or introversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feel-ing and judgment or perception.

The test taker isn’t just one or

the other, Meyers-Briggs breaks down the tendency toward one trait over the other which identifies your preferred work tasks and work environment.

The test doesn’t just generate career choice, but a variety of career choices personality traits tend toward.

The tests provide the full range of careers, ranked from most to least attractive.

Diana Anguiano, a computer sci-ence major, didn’t take the Meyers-Briggs personality test but a differ-ent personality test.

“They asked about my hobbies and ‘would you rather’ questions, and it helped me decide on my ma-jor,” Anguiano said. “It boosted my motivation to go for it.”

Anguiano said the personality test focused her decisions on a ca-reer choice. She realized she was

always using computers and the test pointed to strengths in the computer science field.

In Counseling 165, the test results are analyzed beyond just hobbies and personality strengths.

Tubbs said the course, if taken outside of Palomar, would cost more than $100 because of the in-depth career counseling provided.

Find out atmyersbriggs.org

IN DEPTH| 7MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 | THE TELESCOPE

| THE TELESCOPE

ISTJ: Quiet and serious. Decide logically what

should be done and work toward it steadily,

regardless of distractions.

ISFJ: Thorough, painstaking, and accurate. Strive

to create an orderly and harmonious environment

at work and at home.

INFJ: Conscientious and committed. Seek

meaning and connection in ideas, relationships,

and material possessions.

INTJ: Skeptical and independent. Quickly see

patterns in external events and develop long-range

explanatory perspectives.

ISTP: Tolerant and flexible. Interested in cause and effect, organize facts using logical principles,

value efficiency.

ISFP: Quiet, friendly, sensitive, and kind. Like to

have their own space and to work within their own

time frame.

INFP: Curious, quick, idealistic and loyal. Seek

to understand people and to help them fulfill their potential.

INTP: Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Seek to develop logical explanations for everything

that interests them.

ESTP: Flexible, spontaneous and tolerant.

Theories and conceptual explanations bore them;

they want to act energetically to solve problems.

ESFP: Outgoing, friendly, and accepting. Lovers

of life, people, and material comforts.

ENFP: Warmly enthusiastic, imaginative and

flexible. See life as full of possibilities.

ENTP: Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert,

and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and

challenging problems.

ESTJ: Practical, realistic and matter-of-fact.

Organizes projects and people to get things done,

focus on getting results in the most efficient way possible.

ESFJ: Warmhearted, conscientious, and

cooperative. Want harmony in their environment

and work with determination to establish it.

ENFJ: Warm, empathetic, responsive, and

responsible. Finds potential in everyone, want to

help others fulfill their potential.

ENTJ: Frank and decisive. Usually well

informed, well-read, enjoy expanding their

knowledge and passing it on to others.

*according to meyersbriggs.org

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Fall’s hottest hairstyles include perfect and polished 1950s pony-tails and pixie cuts inspired by Mia Farrow’s late-1960s crop. The trendi-est styles from fashion runways and the red carpet are pulled up, swept to the side or simply chopped off.

Plenty of young celebrities have cut off their hair for a 1960s-inspired gamine look that is evoca-tive of Mia Farrow’s in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Celebrities including Emma Watson, Carey Mulligan, Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Williams and, most recently, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz have chopped their once long, extension-filled and over-pro-cessed Hollywood hair to show off pretty faces and delicate features. Perhaps they are trying to drive the idea home that they are seri-ous actresses, not to be lumped in with the 15-minutes-of-fame real-ity stars. (In Simpson-Wentz’s case, it could be that her hair was fried from the black to red to platinum dye jobs she’s been juggling the last few years.) Either way, cutting their hair so short is a gutsy move that sets them apart from the pack of over-styled starlets.

This style seems to rule with

leading ladies, as well as with tweens and twentysomethings who love Au-drey Hepburn’s hair in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Salma Hayek and Molly Sims have been spotted recently with their hair piled up on the tops of their heads and coiled around like a dollop of whipped cream. The look is reminiscent of the 1960s and shows off a pretty face and high cheekbones. The Urban Outfitters set is also sporting this look, but in an edgier way, with hair on the sides slicked up against the head and the knot a bit tighter and more twisted than the coif that’s been seen on the red carpet.

The style is likely to stick around for spring: Frederic Fekkai stylist Renato Campora gave models at the Marchesa spring 2011 runway show in September a tight, braided topknot that sat toward the front of the head. To get this look, Campora applied a rich styling cream called Fekkai Essential Shea Tame & Style Pot de Creme. He flipped the head over so the hair fell toward the top, braided the hair, wound it around and then secured it to the crown of the head.

Another pulled-back look seen on the runway is the perky and flirty “Barbie-esque” ponytail like the kind that appeared in Louis

Vuitton’s fall 2010 fashion shows. The hair perfectly complemented the collection’s full, below-the-knee skirts and heels.

The key to this chic ponytail versus your running-errands-on-a-Sunday-afternoon pony is the sleek front and the flip at the ends. This may take more time to style than you’re used to, but the look adds some sweetness to fall’s cashmere sweaters and a “Mad Men” quality to holiday party dresses.

A style that started on the run-ways of designers such as Alexan-der Wang and Miu Miu when they showed their collections for spring 2010 seems to be sticking around with no signs of stopping. The loose and slightly disheveled side braid is being worn casually as well as with cocktail dresses on the red carpet. Actress Kate Mara recently paired a side-swept fish-tail braid with a pink one-shoulder cocktail frock at the 2010 Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party.

On the street, stylish girls seem to be taking their cues from celebrities such as Mara and Kate Bosworth by finessing their hair into side-swept braids. If you’ve mastered the style, keep wearing it past fall. The side braid works perfectly with spring 2011’s 1970s-inspired collections.

|ARTS & CULTURE8 THE TELESCOPE |MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010

New Fashion Club president takes reins

MCT CAMPUS

After the last president of Palo-mar’s Fashion Club suddenly left for Milan, one fashion design student decided to step up when no one else wanted to.

Sayra Gonzalez, 20, took on the leadership role.

After taking over, she said she wanted to portray the club in a cer-tain way.

“Our club is nothing strict, it’s like a bunch of people hanging out,” Gon-zalez said. “We also want to break the stereotype that we’re typically stuck up. We’re here to invite everybody. Bringing people in and accepting who we are.”

Gonzalez, at first, didn’t see fash-ion as anything she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

“I actually fell into fashion by accident,” Gonzalez said. “I would sew clothes of mine that would have snags and such. I always liked being different and then I just suddenly fell in love with fashion.”

Describing her style as punk edge with an ethnic feel, Gonzalez said she wants to take her fashion knowledge and get a job traveling and predict-ing fashion trends.

“There are so many really cool areas in fashion,” Gonzalez said. “But I would like to do trend forecasting, which is trying to figure out fashions that people will wear in three or five years. It also gives people an oppor-tunity to travel, which is what I really want to do.”

Gonzalez is working on her associ-ate degree in fashion design as well as getting a certificate in business, which she wants to use to later own a store.

“My business plan is to own my own store,” Gonzalez said. “I want to make it a very different kind of store. I want my clothes to be recycled fash-ion, which means taking a garment and making things like pants into a jacket or taking a piece of one gar-

ment and putting it into another. I want to help the environment in this way, by recycling clothing.”

Sarah Perez, 19, a Fashion Club member, said she likes Gonzalez be-ing the president.

“She has been really kind from the beginning,” Perez said. “She’s been so warm and kind to everyone. When we first met, we really clicked.”

With not much knowledge of be-ing the Fashion Club leader, Gonza-lez said she found a way to manage everything, with help from other club members.

“At first I didn’t know really know what I was doing,” Gonzalez said. “But I’ve seen myself grow as a leader. Everyone in the club has been very supportive and really positive, as well as very encouraging.”

Perez said Gonzalez is good for the club.

“Being president, she’s re-ally nice and organized,” Perez said. “She’s very put together and gives people chances.”

After taking on this lead-ership role, Gonzalez said she finally has seen an improvement in the club, as well as in herself.

“Being the president of Fa s h i o n Club has given me the guts to try new things for not only me, but as well as the club,” Gonzalez said.

“It has helped me grow as a leader. Also in having the confidence in leading a group.”

For more information, visit the club’s website at palomarfashionclub.weebly.com.

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ARTS & CULTURE|MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 | THE TELESCOPE 9

While filmmaker Davis Guggenheim waits for Superman, teachers’ unions are being treated like kryptonite.

But Palomar officials said last week that the film’s message does not reflect life in higher education.

The director behind the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and the television series “24” investigates the troubled inner-city educational system of New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., in the film “Waiting for ‘Superman.’” The film follows the paths of five children who end up participating in lottery drawings for the opportunity to avoid public schools and attend charter schools.

The ideals audiences are often presented with is that in-ner-city public schools are “drop-out factories” and teachers’ unions hinder productive change in these failing institutions by protecting underachieving educators.

“People will always address one issue,” said Teresa Laughlin, Chairwoman of Palomar Faculty Federation negotiations. “If a school is failing, it has got to be the teachers. Then it is the unions.”

“I’m not apologizing for meritocracy. There are probably some poor teachers out there,” she added.

Astronomy major Richard Knesebch agreed.“It (student success) depends on the teacher,” said Knesebch

“I’ve seen some really good teachers and I’ve seen some bad ones.”

When teachers were not unionized, it allowed for capricious firing of teachers and no methods to defend oneself, according to Laughlin. College-level and elementary-level unions are dif-ferent, but all levels work to protect standards agreed upon in

contracts by both teachers and administrations.“Contracts are not forced on anyone at all,” Laughlin

said. “Both parties (teachers and administration)

have to sign on. It’s protection for both. All the union does is allow due process for

teachers. Teachers with tenure can be fired.”

“Superman” also touts

Finland for the country’s educational system, high test scores and highly paid teachers. This leads Guggenheim to portray Fin-land as an education icon.

“You know in Finland, teachers are unionized,” Laughlin said. “They also have tenure. In reality, most students in this country (U.S.) receive a decent, good education.”

Standardized testing have been the blamed for many poor depictions of a teacher’s value. Teachers are forced to teach to a test instead of implementing real-world applications into les-sons, according to Laughlin. This causes the popular trend of memorizing facts now to forget them later.

One student said he believes standardized testing has proved to be unhelpful.

“I feel like I wasn’t prepared for college,” said Jonathan Kue-neman, a first-year student. “Standardized test did not prepare me.”

Another student said he believes the tests serve a different purpose.

“I just think it’s a good way for schools to make money,” said Daniel Repholz, a first-year student. “But the state has stan-dards for my psych class so I guess we need to know what’s com-ing on the test.”

Instead of gauging a teacher’s effectiveness by how they’re teaching, standardized tests rate a teacher on how well students are able to learn. This places the ability to practice and retain coursework solely in a student’s hands.

“I think if you ask any teacher on campus they will say they don’t like standardized tests,” Laughlin said.

When teachers are evaluated as performing below ex-pected standards, the administration can confront them on breaching the agreed-upon contract. Unions make sure that there is justified accusation and the ac-cused party has a fair voice in the matter.

“It’s a really difficult environment to be a teacher,” Laughlin said. “I don’t know who is going to go into it. It (teaching) used to be a really respectable job. It makes me sad.”

Superman packs no punch

STUDENT INTRODUCES NEW HOBBY AT PALOMAR

Tightrope walkers utilize an unyielding steel cable to perform their death-defying ac-robatics. Now replace the steel cable with ny-lon rope and allow that once unyielding line to wobble freely. This is called slacklining and it has one Palomar student hooked and practic-ing in front of Palomar.

Dave Prochazka is a Navy veteran and disc jockey for two radio programs at KKSM, Palomar’s student-operated radio station. Like many other students, he attends class regular-ly in addition to his radio hosting responsibili-ties.

However, a few days a week, Prochazka runs a nylon rope between trees in front of the Palomar Transit Center and practices the art of slacklining.

“Really it’s all about having fun,” Prochaz-ka said. “People have forgotten how to play. You can have fun and get physically fit at the same time.”

Prochazka said that he is very interested in starting a slacklining club and getting more people interested in the sport.

Slacklining started in the mid-1970s by rock climbers at Yosemite National Park in Utah. Left with down time b e t w e e n c l i m b s , c l i m b e r s would keep in shape by rigging low-lying lines to walk across, according to gibbonslick-lines.com.

Prochaz-ka uses one to two-inch-thick nylon cords and carabiners to secure his line to trees or any static object that can be used. Some people who have passed by him said they fear for the health of the trees he uses so he puts a cloth in btween the rope

and the tree trunk.“Anyone can build one (a line) if they want

to,” Proc-h a z k a s a i d . “ M i n e is just m a d e from a b a s i c harness and pul-ley sys-tem.”

Slack-l i n i n g has reg-u l a r l y brought athletes together for com-petitions a n d s h o w -

cases where they preform tricks. The Ouray Ice Festival has been held every January since 1996 and Gibbon Slacklines hosts interna-

tional events to spread interest in slacklining and highlining, slacklining from tremendous heights.

Highlining is not for those afraid of heights. In this sense, slacklining offers the same expe-rience at a lower height.

“There are guys who do flips and crazy tricks,” Prochazka said. “The sport has always been around. There are 20-to-30 year vets out there.”

Prochazka said he attributes his introduc-tion to the sport to his neighbor, who is also a slackliner.

“My neighbor is this real eclectic dude,” Prochazka said. “I saw him doing this stuff (slacklining). So I went out with my friends and we loved it.”

After months of slacklining, Prochazka said his agility and balance have increased greatly. Slackliners are constantly using their legs, hips and abdominal to balance and move.

“Once you’re walking, every time on the line you’re getting better. You’re learning how to balance better,” Prochazka said.

Anyone interested in helping form a campus club or learning more about slack-lining is encouraged to email Prochazka at davepkksm@gmail.com.

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THE TELESCOPE | MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010|IN DEPTH10

To Bradley Spahn, it seemed like a clear case of cheating.

The Wesleyan University stu-dent was assigned a 24-hour take-home exam. Later, he said, nearly half the class would admit to taking so-called “study drugs” — medica-tions like Ritalin or Adderall — to help them focus during the exam. They either took the drugs without a prescription or took more than the prescribed dose.

“It seemed pretty obvious that taking illegal drugs to help you do better on an exam is cheating,” said Spahn, now a senior. “I think it is just as serious as plagiarism.”

The incident spurred Spahn to expand an effort he already had begun: trying to getting the univer-sity to classify the abuse of “study drugs” — usually stimulants pre-scribed for attentional disorders — as cheating.

During the 2008-09 academic year, Wesleyan’s honor code review committee took up the matter but decided not to include study drugs. But the university’s non-academic code of conduct covers the abuse of prescription drugs — along with al-cohol and drug abuse.

While all universities are con-cerned about the abuse of prescrip-tion drugs as a health and legal is-sue, questions about fairness and cheating are seldom raised, as they were at Wesleyan.

Benedict Bernstein, a 2009 gradu-ate of Wesleyan who as chairman of the academic affairs committee was present at the honor code review meetings, said he could not disclose the discussion but said he did not support the inclusion of study drugs in the code.

“I didn’t feel that it could be prosecuted,” he said.

A college might be able to prove

that a student was in possession of “study drugs,” but he said it would be very difficult to prove that the drugs were used to prepare a par-ticular paper or for a test.

And then, he said, there would be more questions raised: Would it violate the honor code if a student found he or she could study more ef-fectively while under the influence of marijuana?

A statement from Michael Wha-ley, vice president of student affairs at Wesleyan, said the university does not “condone any form of il-licit drug use” and that there is “no reason to believe that the misuse of prescription drugs has increased at Wesleyan, but national survey data seems to indicate that such misuse is becoming a concern nationally.”

The medications in question — Ritalin, Adderall and others — are stimulants that are generally pre-scribed for children and adults who have attentional disorders. As the numbers of children diagnosed with attentional disorders has multiplied in the past couple decades, so too has the availability of the drugs, whether among high school stu-dents or on college campuses.

For someone with a disorder, the drugs work to help the person focus and maintain concentration. But people without the disorder also ex-perience an increase in energy and focus, so students seek it out, par-ticularly during midterm and exam periods.

Yitfrah Kaminer, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, said studies show that 4 to 8 percent of college students use such stimulants regularly, getting them without prescriptions.

He said that between 10 and 16 percent of young people who are medicated for attention deficit dis-order share or sell their pills.

Kaminer said the drugs definite-ly can improve concentration and focus in people who do not have any attentional disorder.

At Wesleyan, Spahn said he has noticed that it tends to be top stu-dents who seek out the medications because they are concerned about performing well.

David Callahan, the author of “The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead,” said he doesn’t think taking study drugs “qualifies as cheating in the way that cheating has been traditionally defined.”

He said he understands “the sentiment that a study drug gives advantages to some students.” But, he said, “if you find a way to study more effectively, to master more information ... one can make an argument that to the degree study drugs allow people to put more in-formation in their brain or master a more complex idea, what’s wrong with that?”

Even if the drugs are illegally ob-tained? “I guess that’s a different is-sue,” Callahan said. “That’s an issue about drug abuse.”

A student who attends UConn at the Waterbury campus said his roommate has a prescription for Ad-derall and lets him have a pill when he needs one to get his work done. The student, whose name the Hart-ford Courant is not using because he is using the drug illegally, said, “You can interpret it as cheating if you are talking about academic in-tegrity,” he said.

But he said he doesn’t see it as cheating because he is so busy — working full time and going to col-lege full time — that he otherwise would be unable to succeed.

He said it helps him to do the work needed to pass his classes: “It can make the difference between a B and an A on a paper.”

Is taking prescriptions drugs as ‘study aids’ in college cheating?

MCT CAMPUS

SPORTS| 11MONDAY, NOV. 8, 2010 | THE TELESCOPE

In a day and age when sports have become riddled with steroids and salary grievances, it’s promising to meet an athlete built on pure love for the game.

Sophomore P.J. Worthington plays hole set on the men’s water polo team. Hole set is the equivalent of a center in basketball terms. Originally from California, Worthington moved to Chicago in 1992 before returning to California in 1999. Along the way he played hockey and basketball as well as water polo.

“In basketball I noticed a lot of

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THE TELESCOPEsimilarities with water polo,” Wor-thington said. “Hockey is pretty rough just like polo is. But water polo has definitely become my sport.”

“P.J. is a long kid,” said Coach Bri-an Boynton. “Once he gets his hand on the ball there’s so much he can do. He can shoot or draw in players to feed the ball out. He has excellent ball presence.”

Worthington’s teammates said he is an excellent team player.

“He never has anything negative to say,” said Sean Cope, the second leading scorer on the team. “Player wise, he’s very unselfish. (He is) a great team player.”

Teamwise, Worthington said that there was difficulty getting the team

to work together. “In the beginning of the season we

weren’t really clicking,” Worthington said. “We’re clicking now though.”

Coach Boynton agreed.“Now we are all on the same

page,” Boynton said. “We’ve had to work out a lot of kinks. They’ve worked hard since the beginning.”

This past week the team beat Grossmont College in overtime to re-main undefeated at home through-out the regular season and achieve seeding in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The team held a five-game winning streak to end off the regular season.

“We are definitely all brothers on this team,” Worthington said. “No-

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Palomar freshman Ashley Brod-mann can’t help but love soccer –it runs in her family.

Brodmann is a freshman forward from Murrieta who led the Comets to their fourth straight win by scor-ing her ninth and 10th goals of the season.

“With every goal you get a rush,” Brodmann said.

Teammate Cynthia Vargas added, “She’s the best – she’s our top scor-er.”

In the Pacific Coast Athletic Con-ference, Brodmann is second for goals and points. She was also named athlete of the week for all sports.

“She is a tenacious, goal scoring forward,” freshman and captain Jes-sica Wilds said.

Brodmann started as a freshman at Calvary Chapel Murrieta as well as at Palomar. She played four years

of varsity soccer in high school. Three of those years she had her mom as the coach.

“It was interesting and difficult at times, but she is a good coach,” Brod-mann said. “She knows the game re-ally well.”

Brodmann is one of four siblings. With her mom as a coach, two older brothers and a younger sister who play soccer, Brodmann has the game in her blood.

“She is very well trained,” Wilds said. “I think she has her mom to thank for that.”

According to Brodmann, her fam-ily always supports each other in their sports.

“My parents come to every game and my brothers try to come to as

many as they can,” Brodmann said. Brodmann not only plays soccer.

In high school she ran in track for three years and played softball her senior year.

“I was pretty much there to run,” Brodmann said with a laugh.

A l t h o u g h Brodmann didn’t have a strong in-terest in softball, she knew she could contribute something to the team.

“She is very disciplined and very fast,” Wilds said.

Brodmann not only loves playing soccer, but really enjoys being on the field with the Palomar team.

“I just like being out there and messing around. I like playing a sport I enjoy, with people I enjoy be-ing around,” Brodmann said.

Everyone on the team appreciates Brodmann, according to Vargas. “She works really well with others and she is always doing things to help the team,” Vargas said.

Palomar soccer is 7-5 in league and 8-9 overall with two more games to go.

“We didn’t start out well, but we’re ending well,” Brodmann said.

Brodmann didn’t plan on playing soccer at the college level. After high school, she had a few schools contact her, but no one made any formal scholarship offers.

Brodmann originally came to Palomar for the sign language inter-pretation program. She hoped soccer might fit into her schedule, but she didn’t plan on it.

For three years Brodmann has known that sign language interpre-tation was going to be her major, but she has been studying sign language for the last six years. So far Brod-mann is enjoying Palomar and what it has offered her.

“I like playing a sport I enjoy, with people I enjoy being around.”

body here is just for themselves.” Worthington said he spent his

first year at Palomar coaching water polo at his high school, Great Oaks High in Temecula. After that season, however, he said he felt he needed to play again.

“I just love the game,” Worthing-ton said. “I love anything competi-tive.”

Days before an upcoming game, Worthington said he visualizes ev-ery aspect of his play style and the match up itself.

“I get a lot more nervous (before the game),” Worthington said. “If I’m nervous I feel I’ll do well. If I’m not then I don’t know what to expect.”

“He’s a great set player,” said

teammate Shaun Moore, who played against Worthington in high school. “I’ve played club (water polo) with him, too. He’s a really fun guy to play polo with and against.”

Worthington is described by teammates as a genuine and skilled part of the team.

“He’s always helps out in prac-tice,” said freshman teammate Kevin Reichel. “If you screw up or are con-fused he’ll always help you out.”

Worthington said he plans on playing for as long as he can.

“I hope to get a scholarship this season,” Worthington said. “I just want to keep playing polo. Anywhere is fine with me as long as I can keep playing.”

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Worthington reaches for success

|SPORTS THE TELESCOPE | MONDAY, NOV. 8, 201012

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Most Palomar students come with plans to transfer to a prestigious four year school, but Zach Gholson, 20, isn’t like most students.

The Comet’s lead defensive player is back in the red and black after spending three semesters at Boise State.

Gholson, said his return is an opportu-nity in itself.

“Everything I learned at Boise, I brought back home,” Gholson said.

His experience is paying dividends for the Comets, which was evident at their game on Oct. 30. The team’s victory was in large part due to the defense.

Led by Gholson, the Comet’s defense didn’t allow Pasadena College to score in the second half of the game. Gholson recorded 11 tackles with one and a half sacks along with a fumble recovery.

Gholson spent the Spring 2009 semes-ter playing for Palomar after his defen-sive line coach J.G. Aegerter recruited him when he graduated from La Costa Canyon High in 2008.

Aegerter said Gholson was one of the best lineman in high school at that time, and isn’t worried about Gholson making another successful transition to a major college football team.

“It’s gonna be interesting to see where he ends up because he’s going to have a lot of options,” Aegerter said.

Gholson transferred to Boise after that initial semester because he was of-fered a position on their team as a walk-on, with the opportunity to earn a schol-arship.

“At a program like Boise, you want to take that opportunity,” Aegerter said. “I didn’t want to lose him, but I supported him.”

Boise has one of the best football pro-grams in the country being ranked num-

ber two in the nation by the AP. After three semesters at Boise, ad-

ministration told Gholson they wouldn’t be able to offer Gholson a scholarship, and so he came home.

“Being back at Palomar, this is the most fun I’ve had,” Gholson said.

He said he learned a lot at Boise, and has brought that knowledge back to Palomar.

Gholson, who played in nine games with five tackles for the undefeated Broncos in 2009, explained the players on university-level teams are faster and bigger.

Adam Witzman, another Comet teammate, who went to La Costa Can-yon with Gholson coined the nickname “Steak” for him in high school because of his size, and described Gholson as a laid-back guy.

He said Gholson’s experience and knowledge of the game has helped him with his own performance on the field.

“He’s a really good role model for me as a football player,” Witzman said.

Aegerter agreed that Gholson’s knowledge of the game is one of his strong suits.

“He’s a student of the game,” Ae-gerter said. “He works really hard at his position.”

He works hard at his grades, too, Ae-gerter said. Gholson said he maintains about a 3.0 GPA.

Aegerter said he’s glad to have Ghol-son back at Palomar.

“It’s a great opportunity for him to come back and hone his skills,” he said.

Gholson has already been offered a scholarship at another university, and Aegerter said he expects him to receive many more.

Gholson said he’s happy to be back at Palomar.

“It’s nice, I’m back at home,” he said. “Palomar in general, it’s been a great ex-perience.”

Boise State transfer thriving in second stint for the Comets defensive unit

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