W EDNESDAY, M ARCH 26, 2014
Volume 95, Issue 32
Spending the night in a box Social work grad students partner with local charities MICHAEL HUNTLEY Daily Titan
On any given night in Orange County, 4,300 people are homeless. Almost 40 percent of them are without shelter. The students in Cal State Fullerton’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program are teaming up with Family Promise of Orange County to raise awareness and money for the homeless. MSW students are organizing an event called “box city.” Participants will sleep in boxes for a night on campus to experience how many homeless people across the nation spend their nights. “Box city is designed for an overnight experience to raise awareness about what it’s like to be a homeless person,” said Caroline Bailey, Ph.D., an associate professor of social work. “We are going to sleep overnight in a box. We’re going to have a soup kitchen experience.” Box city events are hosted around the country to aid in understanding of the homeless experience. This will be the first box city event Family Promise of Orange County has hosted on a college campus. “It’s new waters and experimenting, but it’s definitely fun to see it happen in a new arena and in a way that can educate more people that actually have the potential to leave college and make a difference.” said Erica Weedn, the case manager for Family Promise. Students in Bailey’s MSW 502 classes decided to put on this event after watching a film about child poverty last semester. “A lot of us were really moved with how prevalent this problem is,”
MSW student Zoha Bootwala said. “We decided as a cohort to do this event and do something for the homeless population here. So we were throwing out a bunch of different ideas but it ended up being box city which we are really excited about.” Family homelessness is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Forty-nine percent of unsheltered adults have children under the age of 18. Family Promise aims to help homeless families in their time of need. Family Promise organizes a two-month program that provides families with three meals a day and a place to sleep for no cost. Congregations around the country open their doors for a week at a time to the homeless. They also refer people to counseling services and job search programs. Box city is a two-day event held April 24 and 25 with three different phases. It will begin with an afternoon resource fair. Agencies in the community that provide social services will come to campus and provide students information about where they can volunteer or intern. Then, participants will sleep over on campus in boxes decorated with facts about homelessness–who it affects, how many it affects and what can be done. Before the sleepover begins, guest speakers, including Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) and Casey Crosbie, the executive director of Family Promise, will address homelessness in Orange County. Soup kitchens and other activities will make the experience immersive for attendees on campus. After the sleepover, the third phase will begin. SEE HOMELESS, 2
Courtesy of Francis Gacad The CSUF Department of Theatre and Dance musical theatre BFA class of 2014 will perform in NYC April 4 at their annual showcase.
Titans to take Broadway CSUF musical theatre students will perform in NYC REBECCA HARDMAN Daily Titan
Each spring, a select group of Cal State Fullerton musical theatre students gets the chance of a lifetime to perform among the glittering lights of Times Square. Cal State Fullerton’s musical theatre students from the Department of Theatre and Dance will be headed to New York City Thursday, April 3, to exhibit their talents at the Snapple Center Jerry Orbach Theater for the NYC Student Showcase and Alumni Reception. Over spring break, students will engage in an array of musical performances “guaranteed to impress,” according to the Cal State Fullerton Alumni Association website. A reception will be held after the showcase for CSUF alumni. Snapple Theater Center is located in Broadway’s Theater District at 50th street in New York City. “(The students) are going to New York to showcase their talents and hopefully get recognized by agents and to land that next career move after graduation” said Katrina
Courtesy of Francis Gacad Students are given the opportunity to showcase their talents onstage in the Broadway district.
Elberly, the associate director of Alumni Relations. Elberly said she believes the showcase will be a great opportunity for students to perform their talents, which can potentially launch them into a musical or theatrical career. “Show area agents will be there and many of our students will find their next steps by attending showcase,” Elberly said. The showcase is an award-winning NYC Titan tradition. The musical theatre students participating in the event are enthusiastic about this years’
showcase and Titan Alumni reception. These students will have opportunities to network, reconnect with fellow Titans and perform their theatrical and musical talents on a grander stage. “It is a showcase highlighting our talented and accomplished musical theatre students at Cal State Fullerton,” Elberly said. The Marcy Arroues Mulville Memorial Foundation (MAMM Alliance), a volunteer support group for the College of the Arts, has gathered a group of people who will travel to New York to
support the performers in the showcase. “(The MAMM Alliance’s) fundraising efforts support students through programs like the New York Showcase, as well as visiting guest artists, underwriting for music festivals, and much more,” according to the Alumni Association website. The reception will be sponsored and hosted by the Cal State Fullerton Alumni Association. They will offer hor d’oeuvres and drinks for attendees. SEE SHOWCASE, 5
CSUF runners go the distance Matera and Longcrier are two of 100 to race in Badwater 135 JAMES SMITH Daily Titan
Courtesy of Nicole Matera Runners Nicole Matera and Nathan Longcrier have made quite a name for themselves with their dedication to ultramarathons.
Weekends are generally meant for fun. A relaxing time off to work on a hobby or spend time with friends and family can be enjoyable. Nicole Matera and Nathan Longcrier have a slightly different definition of fun. For them, fun is running 135-mile long ultramarathons through some of California’s most inhospitable terrain. Matera, a 23-year-old CSUF kinesiology graduate student, and Longcrier, a 41-year-old CSUF certified athletic trainer, are ultramarathon runners.
The duo are preparing to take on the Badwater 135, a 135-mile long race that touts itself as the “the world’s toughest footrace”. Out of 2,700 applicants, Longcrier and Matera were selected to be two of the 100 competitors at the invite-only race. It will be the first time either of these runners have attended this race, and it will be a decade-long dream come true for Longcrier. Both became interested in ultramarathon running, any race over the standard 26.2 miles, long before they decided to enter the Badwater. Longcrier first decided to try running ultramarathons after being disenchanted with Ironman triathlons and the regimented training they required. “(Ironman training) was
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so structured that it really interfered with my family time,” Longcrier said. “You do it six days a week and you have one day off.” In addition to lengthy time commitments, Longcrier said the extreme competitiveness of the other Ironman competitors and lack of community was another reason he stopped participating in the triathlons. He said it was fairly common for his swimming goggles to go “missing” during a race, and his bike brakes would be tampered with so that they were always on. For Matera, ultramarathons meant a new challenge. After running more than a dozen regular marathons, the 23-year-old was looking for something to test her endurance. “It wasn’t that I was getting bored or they (regular
marathons) were too easy … For me it was about pushing my mind and my body to find out what my limits are,” Matera said. Both Longcrier and Matera agree that there are three key elements in training and preparing for ultramarathons: physical, nutritional and psychological. Of the three elements, the physical side is by far the most extreme. In order to stay in marathon shape, both runners run at least 60 miles a week. They sometimes dedicate entire days to go out and run. Longcrier has taken the duo’s training to the next level by installing a “heat box” inside his house to simulate the grueling raceday temperatures. SEE RUNNERS, 8
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