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    This year March Madness took on an entirely different meaning in Hampton Roads.  It has nothing to do with college basketball, but  refers to the full-court press by the local media in covering the grand opening of the MacArthur Center Mall.
In the weeks prior to the opening, we were bombarded by an onslaught of messages from all directions counting down to the big day.  As we inched closer and closer, almost every day the major headlines in The Virginian-Pilot were about “Big Mac.”  The same goes for the local television news channels.  Not a night would go by without at least one story about some aspect of the mall’s development.
But the frenzy reached an all time high (or low, depending on your point-of-view) when the time finally came to open the great glass doors to the public.  WVEC Channel 13 broadcast from inside the mall for the entire day.  While the news anchors sat in little chairs in the middle of the mall, reporters checked in every few minutes from different strategic locations throughout the mall telling the viewers at home what a wonderful place the MacArthur Center was.
Weatherman Craig Moeller talking to people about all the good deals they found in the stores.
Hey, Craig, do me a favor.  Just tell me what clothes I need to wear to keep warm when I go outside.  Don’t tell me where to buy them, OK pal?
While he may have just been  doing what he was told, it’s a bit disconcerting to see him and other trusted journalists leading the charge to go out and spend, spend, spend.
And what deals exactly are these people talking about anyway?
 The sweet deal the construction workers and employees get when they pay for parking?  A $400 pair of shoes  at Nordstrom?  Your guess is as good as mine.
Sure the city of Norfolk has a great deal riding on this huge endeavor, and that definitely constitutes a big news story.  However, what the local media has done is become spin doctors for the mall.  We saw headlines in the paper that actually told us why the MacArthur Center would be a success, rather than why it could be a success.  Another headline even said to readers, “Ready, Set, SHOP!”
Well, now that all the hype and hoopla is said and done, I’d like to be the first local journalist to make this highly astute, intelligent observation.  It’s something that seems to have been lost in all of the pomp and circumstance of the opening day festivities and the media saturation campaign leading up to that day.
It’s just a freaking mall, people!
And before people start reaching for those check books and charge cards, they should ask themselves why their newspaper is telling them to go out and shop.  Could it be the fact that The Pilot is going to be seeing some major increases in advertising revenue in the near future?
Well, if the designer shoe fits... 

Ah, the scholarship competition.  Many students here remember that experience: touring campus with a friendly tour guide, (who had the uncanny ability to walk backwards for long periods of time), visiting classes (which you quickly vowed that you’d never take but later did), and spending time with the true heart and soul of good ol’ VWC—the student body.
Granted, some of that quality time probably involved activities that you wouldn’t necessarily tell mom and dad about the next day, but it was a valuable experience nonetheless—and certainly one that introduced you quickly to what life is really like here at Virginia Wesleyan College on a daily basis (that is, of course, excluding the cool dinners with extra good desserts that were served on nights the parents were here).
So imagine my dismay when I discovered that the experience that led me to choose VWC as the place where I would spend my college years had been destroyed.  Yes, I said it.  Destroyed.  No more scholarship competition ....at least in the weekend visit version in which it had previously existed.
And more importantly, the competition has been changed so that students like myself will never get to experience the competition, even in its current watered down version.  This version has canned the overnight experience entirely, and has split the competition from a weekend experience into five or more days throughout the semester.
Students come and visit the campus for a tour, are fed lunch and/or dinner, possibly visit a few classes, and then write their  essay, which along with their academic record, is used to decide whether or not they will receive one of the coveted “Wesleyan” scholarships.
Part of the qualifications to come to the “new and improved” VWC scholarship competition are that only students with a 3.5 GPA or higher, combined with  1100 SAT scores, will be invited to attend the event to compete for scholarships.
I understand Admissions’ desire to attract a more “elite” academic student, but in my opinion, these qualifications are cutting out many, if not the majority, of potential students which are more than qualified to attend this college, based on the academic record of the current student body.  After all, how much of the current student body at this very moment has over a 3.5 GPA?  Especially if they are involved in the many activities on this campus that make college dormitory life livable and fun outside the classroom!  In addition, students with a 3.5 GPA and 1100 SAT scores are certainly going to be eligible for scholarships elsewhere.  This includes larger universities that are in cities with better public transportation,  that have more diverse academic offerings, bigger student activity budgets, STUDENT CENTERS and most importantly LOWER TUITION.
It is imperative that Virginia Wesleyan face facts about their rapidly dropping retention rate and do everything they can to compete in an increasingly competitive college market and attract a diverse, well-rounded student body.  This would include offering students that may not have a  3.5 GPA or incredible SAT scores a chance to visit this college for more than a day trip.
I can tell you from personal experience that a high school student  isn’t going to learn what a wonderful place VWC is by visiting a few classrooms and taking a tour.  They need to spend quality time with the student body, who are the heart and soul of this institution.  The most logical way to do this is to invite them to stay for a day or two as the original competition did.
I’m not saying that Admissions should drop their standards, but a student that has a 3.0 GPA and is involved in several activities may be a better match, and in the long term, a better investment, than a student who spends the majority of their time studying.
I was one of those students that didn’t have a 3.5 GPA or high SAT scores.  But because of the scholarship I was offered after attending this competition four years ago, I stayed, and have enjoyed four wonderful years here, and have a higher GPA than I had ever dreamed I would.
I think that the changes made to this competition will not help Wesleyan’s falling retention rate, it will hinder the recruitment of the many quality students that would chose to come to Wesleyan, and more importantly, STAY at Wesleyan.  It is my belief that the powers that be in Admissions and the Administration of this fine institution should reconsider their decision in this matter.