Inland Edition, March 8, 2019

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The Coast News Don’t forget to set your clocks forward 1 hour this Sunday

VISTA, SAN MARCOS, ESCONDIDO

VOL. 5, N0. 6

CIRCUS IS IN TOWN

‘Invisibility’ of homeless students By Samantha Taylor

REGION — Homelessness is considered a crisis in San Diego County, but it extends far into the county’s communities — particularly among college students. Many colleges lack the tools to capture exactly how many of their students are currently homeless or displaced and facing housing instability. MiraCosta is one of those colleges, according to former student Heather Sorgine. “Without this data, we are unable to understand the scope of the issue,” Sorgine wrote in her final recommendation to the college from her social justice research fellowship. “Unaddressed, these students will continue to suffer, unaided, and the school administration will continue to believe students are being adequately served by existing programs.” Sorgine said she was one of a few select students with the purpose of “researching challenges faced by specific populations and devising recommendations for how MiraCosta can address these challenges.” According to a study published in early 2018 by researchers at Temple University and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, 36 percent of college students say they are food insecure, another 36 percent are housing insecure and 9 percent are homeless. A 2016 California State University Long Beach study of 23 campuses found that 10,000 students in California identified as independent homeless youth on their Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA) in 2013-2014. The study suggests those statistics are likely lower than reported because students either don’t know their designation, are unwilling to designate themselves as homeless, or become homeless after they complete the FAFSA. In the 2014-2015 TURN TO HOMELESS ON 3

CIRCUS VARGAS, now in its 50th year, is playing the Westfield North County Mall through March 18. The two-plus hour show includes acrobatic acts, clowns, trapeze artists, music and colorful light displays, and early-arriving children will be treated to a complementary skills demonstration. STORY ON PAGE 11. Courtesy photo

Sweet deal for students, chocolatier Special to The Coast News

CARLSBAD — It’s no secret that kids, brownies and chocolate are a popular combination and that they usually go together anytime or anywhere. For example, a sixthgrade science class at a Vista school helped inspire a new candy bar for a renowned chocolatier based in Encinitas. The result: they can now see their inspiration on store shelves. Last fall in a busy science classroom at Vista Christian School, some excited students began a STEM project in which they developed their own flavors thematically around the Chuao Chocolatier chocolate brand. According to Sebastian Gomez, brand director at Chuao Chocolatier, this was a great project and fun

marketing would for the kids of be. Everything was Rachel Flores’ done around delivclass to particiering a bar that pate in. would end up in a It all startretail space.” ed when they Gomez said heard about the when Chef MiChuao brand chael and Chuao since the teachstaff heard about er’s husband the students’ works for the comproject, they pany, Gomez said. were equally as “Because of excited. their love of choc“Chef Miolate, they took it chael and I alupon themselves ways wanted to develop a projto get kids inect around creating volved because bar flavor profiles CHUAO’S MINTthey have no for Chuao,” he said. FULLY BROWNIE “They went through inspired by a sixth- barrier to creativity,” Goa process of being grade science innovative, being class. Courtesy photo mez said. “We also always unique and having fun. One of the girls wanted to bring them into had cooking skills so they the factory and brainstorm made them and even devel- with them regarding what oped what the package and flavor profiles they’d like

to see and taste, so we did. We gave them a tour and they asked lots of questions.” Gomez said at the same time the conversations were going on, Chef Michael was trying to develop a recipe for a bar with brownies — but he didn’t have a special ingredient yet. “We always have a twist that makes our bars unique, but he didn’t have one yet for the brownie bar he was thinking about,” Gomez said. “The students mentioned they were playing around with a brownie bar, too, and had added mints to it … That became the secret ingredient that Chef Michael was looking for.” When the two visions collided, the “Mintfully Brownie” was born.

MARCH 8, 2019

Brewery at heart of new space My Yard Live breaks ground next week By Aaron Burgin

SAN MARCOS — Construction of a highly anticipated brewery-centric entertainment center in San Marcos kicks off next week. Officials on March 14 will celebrate the ground breaking on My Yard Live, a 17,500-square-foot restaurant, brewery and activities center at the city-owned site of the old Hometown Buffet on Rancheros Drive. The ambitious complex, which has been in the works for two years, could be completed by this summer. “My Yard Live is an experiential community gathering space bringing together quality food and libations, a brewery, live entertainment, leisure games, activities, and unique experiences for the enjoyment of people of all ages, whether a child or a child at heart,” co-founder Jamie Minotti said in a previous interview. About 10,600 square feet of the space will be indoors, while the remaining 6,907 square feet will be split between two outdoor patios. One patio will be dedicated to customers with children and include playground elements, climbing structures and picnic tables. The second patio will be geared toward adults with stand-up shuffleboard, bocce ball, fire pits, and an area that can be converted to provide additional games or live entertainment performances. The indoor space will have arcade games, air hockey, ping-pong and other entertainment. An island-style bar seating up to 36 people will run from the interior to the adult patio. Total seating for diners will be 220 (excluding lounge-area seating). Minotti said the concept was in part inspired by his earlier years working with a housing developer in San Marcos in the late 1990s. TURN TO MY YARD LIVE ON 10


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