Junior Finn Christensen-McElroy moved to Oregon from California nine years ago, having grown up in San Francisco and the Bay Area. While she will always love the sunny weather of SoCal — where most of her extended family still lives — Oregon has its own charm, particularly the fact that it has four seasons (rather than just warm and less warm).  Her favorite classes this year are Advanced ...

Junior Kayah Cieslak has lived in Portland, Oregon, all of her life — despite moving from one household to another. With her all-time favorite book being “The Little Prince,” she has a deep appreciation for media in all its forms, like movies, music, and books. Her favorite music artists currently — although her rotation changes frequently — are beabadoobee, Panchiko, Radiohead, Starflyer ...

Junior Audrey Waters lives in Milwaukie, only a short commute away from La Salle. With an unexpected change in her plans for high school she ended up at La Salle, after receiving a recommendation from a family friend.  She attended Hosford Middle School, where she was in a Chinese Immersion program. This year her favorite classes include Honors Spanish 3, AP English 3, and Honors Biology. Audrey als...

While junior Harper Coleman originally joined The Falconer’s crew to follow in her brother’s footsteps, she quickly discovered her own passion for the creative and investigative qualities of the craft and thrives in the publication’s friendly team environment. This is her fourth semester of journalism. Harper loves road trips, having been to to 15 states and 28 national parks. While she ev...

Junior Kieran Crist-Kenworthy was born in Portland, Oregon and has lived there his entire life. He deeply values its rainy environment, even if recent summers have brought absurd heat.  He was brought to La Salle by its strong sense of continuity with his middle school, Fransiscan Montessori Earth School, in both values and shared community.  Kieran possesses an interest and passion for wr...

Julia was born and raised in Oregon. Going to private school at St. John the Baptist her entire life, she planned on attending La Salle since kindergarten.  Throughout her educational career, English has always been a subject that Julia has admired. Her love for this particular class is what sparked her interest in taking journalism as an elective.  Julia has played soccer since she was five years ...

Junior Esmé Ryznar is currently in her second semester of Journalism. Moving here from Alaska roughly 14 years ago, she enjoys the rainy weather and atmosphere of Oregon.  Coming to La Salle simply because her brother, Dylan, attended, Esmé has since found herself participating in many activities, engaging in the opportunities presented to her, and loving the community at La Salle.  Esmé has...

Junior Clover Martin was born in Pacifica, a small town on the California coastline, and moved to Oregon when she was seven years old. She still visits her hometown during the summers, often returning for music expos or festivals with her father, who works as a composer. Growing up immersed in music, Clover has dabbled in almost any instrument you could think of, though her main focus has always be...

Junior Tabitha Obuchowski lives in Happy Valley and came to La Salle following her sister's path. Before La Salle, Tabitha attended El Puente Elementary, a Spanish immersion school in Milwaukie and then Christ the King for middle school to be close to La Salle.  Music is very important to Tabitha as she is always open to a new genre or artist recommendation. Her interest in music started when her mom s...

Eli Batcheller is currently a junior. Eli lived in Oregon City for around 16 years, until moving to Oak Grove in the summer after his Freshman year.  His favorite part of all of his classes are his friends around him that he has been able to make. One of the most important things he finds is the community at La Salle in all aspects.  He originally chose to go to La Salle because of his old...

Senior Gwen Brown loves to experience new things and isn’t scared to get dirty or wet. She spends a lot of her time outside of school exploring the Pacific Northwest, where she’s lived her entire life.  Growing up with easy access to Mt. Hood and the Oregon Coast, she was swimming through waves and skiing down slopes if she wasn’t camping at a lake. Nowadays, Gwen tries to find time t...

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, senior Rita Tran loves being able to step outside and be surrounded by all the nature around her.  She loves being able to spend time outside any chance she gets, from playing tennis, swimming, or going on picnics with friends. Rita is involved in many different communities, such as the AAPI club and her church, St. Rose of Lima, where she loves being abl...

Sophomore Jack Schweitzer was born in Bend and moved to Happy Valley two years later. Prior to coming to La Salle, he attended Christ the King from kindergarten to eighth grade, and decided to come to La Salle to be with his friends and because his mom is an alum. He enjoys the community and athletics here. Jack is a part of La Salle’s baseball and football teams, and his favorite class is Honors English II...

Freshman Yazmin Lopez-Estevez has lived in Woodburn, Oregon for her whole life. Yazmin has always been a talkative person, and you will usually find her talking to someone or laughing with her best friends. Beside being social, she likes to focus and do her work and strives for excellence.  Yazmin loves to listen to music by Ivan Cornejo, Frank Ocean, Beabadoobee, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake. Whi...

Hugo Sanchez was born in Portland, Oregon where he enjoys the unique culture. He went to La Salle because it seemed like a good opportunity to get involved with its small community.  Before La Salle, he went to All Saints. His favorite class at La Salle is World History, since Hugo enjoys learning about historical events and how they affect the world today. He just got into swimming at La Salle...

Freshmen Rune Puha has always lived in Oregon, starting first from Eugene, before drifting up into Portland at eight and quite enjoys rainy weather. Since starting at La Salle, Rune’s favorite classes include Choir, Physics and World History 1 because they love learning facts, and data about past events which can be cross referenced into story ideas. They also find Physics to be an interesting yet chal...

Junior Mieke Foubert has lived in Milwaukie, Oregon her entire life. Growing up near La Salle, she knew from a young age that La Salle was where she was going to attend high school.  Throughout her life, Mieke has played soccer starting from the age of four. She always remembers soccer being a part of her life, whether it involved going to Portland Timbers games or watching with her family on the wee...

Sophomore Chase Connor has lived in Oregon his whole life. He went to La Salle because of its strong community and welcoming environment. Before La Salle, he attended Christ the King for middle school. Outside of school, he runs for the track and field and cross country teams, and he is a member of the swim team as well. He also competed in rowing in eighth grade. His biggest accomplishment was...

Sophomore Gian Manzon was born and raised in his hometown of Happy Valley, Oregon. His favorite thing about the city is the greenery and community events. He attended Christ the King for elementary and middle school and was drawn to La Salle because of his brother’s attendance and to be with friends. His favorite class is Honors English II. Gian is a swimmer for La Salle, and this his first semester in...

Kailin Quatela is in 11th grade and moved to Oregon in 2013 from the mountains of Flat Rock, North Carolina, which she visits every summer.  Being raised in the mountains encouraged her to love spending time outdoors, whether it be hiking close by or road-tripping to explore new places. She brings her digital camera everywhere in hopes to capture candids of people or pretty shots of nature. Ou...

Born in Alaska, junior Ashe Hardigg moved to Portland 14 years ago and has lived there ever since. He went to Franciscan Montessori Earth School for middle school and, along with almost all of his classmates, chose to attend high school at La Salle. Ashe found a love for running during quarantine and carried this over to participating in track and field for La Salle during the spring. He also plays...

Junior Cash Korvola moved to Oregon from Montana when he was young, and he feels that has led to his love of traveling. For most of his life, Cash attended public schools, including Llewellyn Elementary and Sellwood Middle School. However, he decided to change it up a bit for high school by going to La Salle, driven by his eagerness for better academics, athletics, and a stronger community. While...

Freshman Grady Wilkinson was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and loves the cool, rainy weather and the various shops. Prior to coming to La Salle, Grady went to ACCESS Academy, a public school in southwest Portland. His favorite subject currently is English for no particular reason, but it changes from time to time. This year, he hopes to pass all his classes with A’s. In his free time,...

Junior Kaitlyn Roozen has lived in Portland, Oregon, her whole life, although she has had to move three different times. She enjoys the rainy weather Oregon has to offer because she finds it comforting. Before starting her educational career at La Salle, Kaitlyn attended Saint John the Baptist from preschool all the way through 8th grade. She was inspired to come to La Salle due to the close proximity...

Sophomore Mercy Gobana attended St. Therese Catholic School for middle school, and went on to go to La Salle to experience the many classes and extracurriculars it offers. In her freshman year, she joined theater, where she participated in construction and backstage crew. She enjoys working behind the curtain in plays because building the set allows her to practice her artistic skills, while running...

Freshman Lou Rodriguez was born and raised in the Southeast Portland neighborhood of Montavilla. A beloved neighborhood to Rodriguez, he feels Montavilla is a small town with a bustling downtown that is somewhat separate from the rest of Portland. Rodriguez’s dad is from Argentina but moved to Mexico at a young age. When his dad turned 18, he moved to Texas and started a new life in America. Rodriguez’s...

Sophomore Roland Zuments joined the La Salle community in 2023, and currently is in his second semester in journalism. Aside from his involvement in The Falconer, Roland also participates in the Speech and Debate team for La Salle, hoping to refine his existing speaking skills and use them to gain success in tournaments. Roland also has many out of school activities he enjoys, such as archery....

Senior Rowan Bienapfl has lived in Oregon her entire life and enjoys the rain that comes each season. She enjoys walking her chickens and adding to her plant collection, but spends most of her free time hiking, reading, painting, listening to music, and napping. Her current goal is to learn basic Russian and Ukrainian so she can better understand the people affected by the war reaching out for ...

Junior Milo Trevino was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and lived there up to the age of five. He then moved to California a year prior to moving to Portland.  He attended Fransican Montessori Earth School from first grade through middle school. His favorite subject is science because he has always had a love for it. Additionally, he has always been curious about how things work. He is par...

Emmett Strackany is a sophmore student who was born in Oregon and has lived there his entire life. He loves all seasons here, but his favorite is probably fall. After previously attending Franciscan Montessori Earth School (FMES) for middle school, Emmett came to La Salle with nearly everyone else from his class. He greatly loves FMES and hopes to revisit every chance he gets.  At La Salle he lov...

Julianne Rast, a 11th grader, has moved five times in her life: from Las Vegas, Nevada, to two different houses in Richland, her grandparents house, and her house now outside of Gladstone.  Julianne is a third generation student here at La Salle and is following in her family's legacy. After graduating from Saint John the Baptist in downtown Milwaukie she was ready for high school. Julianne juggles ...

Sunny Super is currently in 11th grade. She has lived in Oregon her entire life, moving only a couple of times, and she loves the community and weather here.  Sunny came to La Salle following in her brother’s footsteps, but also because when she shadowed at the high school she fell in love with the community. Another contributing factor to Sunny’s enrollment at La Salle was the fact that she atten...

Sophmore Zayna Elkhal’s family is originally from Syria, and she loves snowboarding, dark chocolate, reading, and writing. Before the sixth grade Elkhal despised reading and writing. She would always just stare at the book and pretend to read it during reading time. It wasn’t until the sixth grade during Covid-19 she was so bored, that she got into reading.  All it took was one good boo...