The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Tuesday December 11, 2018
Volume 104 Issue 45
Wayne Arnold motivated by family Student
center to be moved
NBA dreams started for the Titans guard after a neighborhood shooting. HARRISON FAIGEN Freelancer
The moment Wayne Arnold knew he had to get his family out of Compton came when he saw someone get shot and killed right on the doorstep of the one-bedroom apartment he shared with his mom and her boyfriend. Arnold was only in sixth grade at the time, but even as a child, he knew his family needed to be anywhere but there. “When I saw that, I was like ‘I really got to get my mom in a better place, in a better position,’” Arnold said. “I was like ‘I have to figure something out to get my family out’ ... I didn’t know it was basketball yet.” Arnold didn’t start seriously pursuing basketball until eighth grade, but once he did, it was with the single-minded determination and focus of a child who just wanted their parent to be safe. He gave up skateboarding because he didn’t want to tweak his ankles or hurt his knees. He started watching Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant to learn his moves and mannerisms, most notably Bryant’s hard-edged and unceasing competitiveness, a trait everyone who knows Arnold cites as one of his greatest strengths. It’s a trait that helped earn him
The communications’ department has plans to improve the center. WILLIAM ROBBINS Staff Writer
JESSICA RUIZ / DAILY TITAN
Arnold spent most of his high school days in a gym because his mom worked two jobs to support their family.
a full scholarship to Cal State Fullerton and a spot on the men’s basketball team. While Arnold hasn’t played much this season — he’s only averaging 12.8 minutes per game and seems to exist right on the fringes of the normal rotation — the slightly undersized, 6-foot-4-inch freshman,
has already made an impression on the Titans because of his dedication. Titans head coach Dedrique Taylor has been impressed with the way Arnold has come in and put up extra shots in his free time and how he visits Taylor’s office to ask specific questions
about the Titans’ defensive schemes. Arnold has also quickly excited Taylor by not sulking when a coach has to critique him, or when a more experienced teammate is roughing him up in practice. SEE GRIND
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Cal State Fullerton’s College Park may have a renovated Student Success Center as early as fall 2019. The current center, located on the sixth floor of College Park, serves as a waiting lobby for students who are seeking advising in its offices. There are new plans to move the center to the second floor of College Park, with an entire wing dedicated to open space. As of now, there is no confirmed timeline or production in motion. “If we can, it would be nice to open it in conjunction with a natural time frame of students, like a grand opening that’s available in the fall semester,” said Deanna Leone, associate dean of the College of Communications. “I anticipate we might move sooner than that, but that would probably be a naturally occurring timeline.” SEE SUCCESS
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A meow-ditation story from Brea About 40,000 students are enrolled at Cal State Fullerton. They come from communities in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Some commute long distances to get to campus. The series Voices from Home tells stories about the people and places that make their communities unique. These are some of their voices.
Those who would not like to participate in yoga classes can also make their own cat toys.
This unique yoga lounge allows people to unwind with the help of cats. RYAN MATTHEY Freelancer
People have heard of meditation, they’ve heard of cats, but have they heard of cat meditation? The ZenCat Lounge in Brea is the only studio to incorporate meditation and cats in one facility and thanks to their work, both cats and meditation coexist in harmony.
The owners, mother-daughter team Donna and Melissa Brown, opened the studio in March of 2018. Their idea was to open a place that would help humans as well as homeless cats. With Donna’s 30 years of meditation experience and Melissa’s bachelor’s degree in psychology, the duo combined their knowledge to form the idea of meditating with cats. “My mom and I were both at a point where we wanted our work to be doing something meaningful and giving back to the world instead of just
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RYAN MATTHEY / DAILY TITAN
making money for other people. So, we decided to combine our passions and our experiences,” Melissa said. Their mission is to increase the number of permanent adoption placements for stray and surrendered cats and they believe forming a connection with a cat prior to taking it home is what ensures lasting relationships. This connection is made through the different activities ZenCat Lounge offers, such as group meditation and yoga classes that are offered every week. Here, participants engage
RYAN MATTHEY / DAILY TITAN
All of the cats at the lounge are friendly toward people and other cats.
in meditation and yoga techniques with the feline residents’ company. For a more solo endeavor, private rooms are available where participants follow guided meditations through Muse headbands and tablets. The headband, a biofeedback device, measures brain activity and tells users how calm their minds are while the tablet teaches basics of good posture and meditation with cats. However, the real stars of the lounge are the cats. Customers who choose not to meditate are free to hang out
with the resident cats. Coloring pages and create-your-own cat toys are available to enhance the experience. The cats come from different rescue organizations local to Orange County and Los Angeles, including Cats In Tow, Healthy Paws, The PAW Mission and MeoowzResQ. The lounge has only two criteria for the cats they take in: they must be good with people and other cats. This leads to what Donna considers to be a collection of the best cats in Brea. SEE PAWS 6 VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM