Torrey Pines High School - Freeflight Yearbook (Del Mar, CA)

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nderfhe FEATHERS Although the name Michelle Wadley may not be familiar, she is quite well known. Like the San Diego Chicken and other mascots, Wadley likes her anonymity, She is, of course, Torrey Pine's own mascot, Fred the Falcon. Freeflight had the opponunity to speak with Wadley on a one to one basis so uncommon to her position. FFTEEFLIGHT: WhaT were The circum- sTances surrounding your becoming The school mascoT? WADLEY I wanTed To be The mascoT IasT year, buT I was only a Sophomore. To be The mascoi I had To be a Junior ora Senior. So This year I Tried ouT again, and I goi iT. FREEFLIGHT Wiih all The long hours and hard work, why did you wanT To be The mascoi in The firsT place? WADLEY I've always loved The San Diego Chicken. He's kind ofa ugood-will ambas- sador and I like Thai. I'm really ouigoing, and when I'm in The cosiume, I can do whaTever I wanT wiThouT people knowing who I am. I can do Things I wouIdn'T do if people knew IT was me. I really love To criTi- cize The oTher Team, now Thai is a IoT of fun. FREEFLIGHT WhaT does IT feel like, being in fronT of a crowd ThaT size? Don'T you feel nervous in fronT of a fooTball sTadium full of people? WADLEY Well, no. When I'm up in fronT of The fans, I don'T hear or even noTice Them. WiTh The head on, I can only hear my own breaihing. One Thing I don'T like abouT being The Falcon is ThaT I can'T Talk To anyone. lT's lonely. I like To Talk, buT when 132 FRED THE FALCON I'm on The field, I have To be Fred The Falcon, noT Michelle Wadley. BuT no, I don'T geT nervous. When I'm on The field, I'm so pumped up I don'T have Time To Think abouT whai I'm doing, IeT alone who's waTching me. FREEFLIGHT Whai do you Think abouT when you're performing? WADLEYI Think abouT whaT I'm going To do nexi. Because I don'T have any seT scripT of whaT To do, I have To be looking around all The Time, Trying To find Things To do. Like The one fooTbaII game when There were people eaTing chicken in The siands. Being NUMBER ONE. Fred The Falcon IMichelIe Wadleyxl Shows who's The besT on November 8Th aT The Varsi fiofoiball game againsT San Marcos. UnforIunaTely, e os Fred The Falcon, I had To Take offense aT ThaT and really reacT. FREEFLIGHT WhaT is your favoriie parT of being The mascoT'? WhaT do you enjoy The mosT abouT your posiTion? WADLEYI guess There are Two Things I enjoy The mosT. Being The mascoi allows me To express my opinions openly wiThouT having To deal wiTh The consequences. Everylhing people yell is To The Falcon, noT To me. The oTher Thing I really like is ThaT The fans don'T know who I am. They don'T know if I'm a boy or a girl, so They spend half The game Trying To figure ouT which I am. So I, of course, Try To confuse Them. They'll say To each oTher 'shake iTs' hand. So when They do, I squeeze real hard, so They Think Thai I'm a guy, Then They Try To waTch how I walk, ThaT's when I can really Try To Throw Them off. FREEFLIGHT WhaT was The rnosi embarassing Thing Thai ever happened To you as The Falcon? WADLE Y I've neveriold anyone abouT This. buT when I was hurrying To change afTer a game, so I could make iTTo The bus in Time, I ran inTo a baThroom. The problem was, I didn'T check To see if IT was a boy's or a girI's room. Forlunaiely, I was almosi compIeTeIy dressed before anyone came in. FREEFLIGHT If you could change any- Thing abouT The Falcon, whai would IT be, and why? WADLEY I guess iT would have To be The FaIcon's sTaTus. NexT year I'd like To see people Think of him like They Think of The Chicken. I'd really like To see a IiTTIe more Continued on page 134

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' - :ff fiigf-MV I . m? .ard Qlrrisrrrarllliliiillwliliii One explanaTion for This newfound spiriT was The cheer- leading squad. ensational T piriT This year was higher Than ever before. STudenTs were noT merely inTer- esTed in school acTiviTies. They were ex- ciTed. One expIanaTion for This newfound spiriT was The cheerleading squad. Over The lasT several years, The cheerleaders had Taken on a casual aTTiTude. The sTudenTs, lacking The leader- ship and necessary spiriT, had also Taken on This aTTiTude. Changes were made concerning The squad. In August The squad parTicipaTed in a cheerleading camp aTThe UniversiTy of Califomia aT Los Angeles. ln compeTiTion aT The camp, The squad placed quiTe well. Then in SepTember, when The sTudenTs were greeTed by an enThusiasTic group of cheerleaders, inTeresT began To grow. People are generally followers, said one fooTball fan, 'you wanT To jump and yell, buT only if someone else does iT firsT. The cheerleaders of '85-'86 were quiTe willing To jump and yell. - Kerry Grochowiak VARSITY or-:EER 131

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HALFTIME SHOW. Frosh cheerleaders prove thcn Our Teams Be-Her by promoting spirit dur- ing holfTime. This time become Q highlight of every gclme.