Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

photos courtesy of h2o bar & grill

H20 offers a wave of wonder for Wesleyan students

By LAURA NORRIS

lenorris@vwc.edu

It’s college. Students everywhere are constantly looking for the latest place to go and hang out with friends, enjoy a good bite to eat, or just dance, let loose, and have a good time. So for those asking “What are we going to do tonight?” the answer for VWC students now can be “I’m going to the H2O Bar and Grille,” conveniently located ten minutes from campus on Shore Drive.

Owned and operated by Virginia Wesleyan College alumni, Mark Bushey, Tom Braca, and Mike Weatherly, this new addition to the Virginia Beach area has opened up a new hip place for people of all ages to go if they are searching for a good time. The atmosphere of the restaurant is colorful and exciting. “With live entertainment from some of the areas best performers five days out of the week,” Bushey said, “it’s a great place for people to come hang out together and listen to great music.”

Ian Corle, a Wesleyan student and employee at H2O Bar and Grille says that Reggae Night is “by far the best night of the week. Nature’s Child comes in every Wednesday night and rocks the place. The crowd is diverse but people are dancing and having a good time all night. It’s just a chill, laid-back time.”

College students are not the only people who can come to H2O. Bushey says that their “target audience is everyone who wants to come and have a great time. The food is great and affordable for lunch, dinner and late night, and the menu is tailored to meet anyone’s appetite.”

Tailoring to everyone’s needs is something that this tremendous trio hopes to also extend into the community. Besides providing a place for dining, entertainment, and relaxation, Weatherly said that “they are very big advocates of the law of reciprocity, paying it forward if you will. Down the road, I can see Mark, Tom and I doing some very important things to help those in need in our community.

We find adventure a lot more fun when we take others along for the ride!” Speaking of adventure, it took this group of hard-working Wesleyan alumni a lot of time and energy in order to see this restaurant become a reality. All recalling great experiences at Wesleyan, they said that they were very involved. Bushey came from Burlington, Vt., majoring in business with concentrations in management and marketing. Baca, via Connecticut, was a communications major who he even wrote for The Marlin Chronicle. To round out the trio, Weatherly from North Carolina focused on a major in religious studies, psychology, and education- talk about a full plate! Afterwards, Weatherly pursued a Masters’ degree in business administration.

Coincidently, this is not the first time that they have been on a team together; all three suited up as Marlins on the baseball field. This is also where they all met. After college, remaining close friends, they entered the real estate investment field together. A couple of years later, Bushey says that they realized that “we wanted to push ourselves with a new challenge and felt that certain circumstances in our lives had set the stage for an endeavor such as acquiring a bar and restaurant.” However, it did not come easy. Like all businesses, there is always going to be a speed bump to slow you down. Weatherly explained that “they always like to compare everything we do in business to riding a rollercoaster or driving a car. Anyone entering the business world with a mindset of it’s going to be a smooth ride is in for a rude awakening. The important thing is to keep a positive frame of mind throughout the entire journey. There is always going to be ups and downs, but down the road you’ll turn around and discover you’ve made it quite far after all. That’s the fun part, discovering who you are, and more importantly, what you are made of!”

In starting a business, the men hope to promote the idea of “if you believe, you can achieve.” If you are out there looking to start up your own business or something similar, Tom emphasizes to embracing the college experience. “College is a great place for you to learn who you are and how to think.”

H2O Bar and Grille can serve two purposes for Wesleyan students. First, it can be a place to get off-campus and hang out with friends. Second, it serves as an example of what you can do with your hard work after college. So, Marlins now go out and test the waters for yourselves. The food is awesome, the service and drinks are great, and the entertainment is the best you can find on Shore Drive.