The Marlin Chronicle THURSDAY 11.7.24 || MARLINCHRONICLE.VWU.EDU
VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
House debate held at VWU between Kiggans, Smasal BY CLAY YOKOM
kayokom@vwu.edu
Jen Kiggans and Missy Smasal took the stage for a debate hosted in the Brock Theatre in Goode by the Hampton Roads Chamber to inform potential voters of their stances and to energize their preexisting voters. This event was the only debate held between the two candidates for the District 2 congressional seat in this 2024 election season. The President and CEO of Hampton Roads Chamber Bryan Stephens described this group as, “nonpartisan, pro business. We represent the business community in Hampton Roads.” The Chamber’s event was sponsored by a multitude of businesses from the area, with Sentara as the highest donor for this event and spoke to the crowd before the debate. This event was hosted to allow people in Senate District 2, which covers the Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads area, to have access to more information on the candidates to make an educated vote for the Nov. 5 election. The debate covered a large portion of current large-scale political concerns, including immigration, economic practices, green energy and abortion access. The debate was moderated by Chris Saxmann from Virginia FREE, a nonpartisan subscription based newsletter published on Substack, a paid newsletter platform that allows creators to make monetized publications. When discussing the debate, people who weren’t present question who won. Virginia Wesleyan residents have a wide range of answers. This event required the purchase of a ticket, which was 60 dollars, though Political Science Professor James Moskowitz procured tickets that could be used by students in some of his classes.
See DEBATE Page 3
Field Hockey players at their game against Lynchburg on Oct. 30, which they lost 1 - 5.
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
Field Hockey finds unusual success The team finished 12 - 5, the best record for VWU Field Hockey since 2005. BY COY CAMISCIOLI clcamiscioli@vwu.edu
The Virginia Wesleyan Women’s Field Hockey team made history this season and earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2016. The Marlins finished the season with an overall record of 12-5, which is the most wins in a season for the program since 2005, when they won 13. With this feat, the Marlins have improved significantly from the previous season after finishing with a 7-11 record to end the 2023 season. A lot of this success has come from the freshmen class introducing strong talent, being some of the best in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). Freshman Berkley Miller has been one of the key pieces to the Marlins’ success as the team’s starting goalkeeper.
NASA predicts major wetlands loss by 2100
Miller has won the ODAC Defensive Player of the Week award three times already this season while logging 65 saves in 16 games. Miller said she enjoyed every minute of her time with the team this season and is excited to keep this journey rolling. “This team is absolutely incomparable to teams I have played for in the past. We focus on our culture as a team a lot and it is one of the main reasons I came to this school,” Miller said. Miller is insistent that her success is in large part due to how comfortable she is around this group and that it will take them far in the future. “This group of people is so special to me because I know I am able to talk to each and every one of my teammates. This team is there for me no matter what and I feel noticed and not put off to the side,” Miller
said. Even with all of this success in Miller’s first year on the team, she is staying humbled and looks to make small strides every day, she said. “My goals moving forward are to keep putting in the work at practice and to make it beyond the first round of the playoffs,” Miller said. This season’s success has also been a blessing for the upperclassmen who have been through tough times during their career as the team only won 15 games total from 2020 to 2023. Forward Olivia Winslow, a senior, described what it has been like to go from a struggling team to one of the top schools in the ODAC. “This team has transformed over my
See FIELD HOCKEY Page 7
Smaller majors at Virginia Wesleyan have unique benefits—and challenges BY VICTORIA HANELINE vfhaneline1@vwu.edu
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle Wetlands, like these at Pleasure House Point near the Brock Environmental Center, are in danger of disappearing. “The metropolitan area in BY ISAAC FICK the U.S. [is] the second most NASA and the local nonprofit vulnerable to sea level rise,” organization Wetlands Watch Dr. Maynard Schaus, professor reported that we will lose 78% of of Biology and Environmental Virginia’s tidal wetlands by the Science and coordinator of end of the century, and half of Sustainability Management, said. that will be lost even if action is Schaus explained the cause of taken. vulnerability. “The land is being “We have some of the highest compacted at the same time that rates of sea level rise in the whole the sea level is rising,” he said. United States,” Dr. Elizabeth “Coastal wetlands are Malcolm, professor of Ocean important for humans as well and Atmospheric Sciences and as for the organisms that rely director of Sustainability, said. on those ecosystems,” Malcolm “It’s definitely a big issue for this said. region and it’s not going to go See WETLANDS Page 2 away.”
Inside Look:
There are 28 students enrolled in BIO 200, Diversity of Life, a major course for Biology. 25 are enrolled in MBE 301, Principles of Management, a junior-level business course. There are 38 in EES 200, Oceanography, commonly taken as a lab credit. PHIL 309, Critical Thinking in a Digital Age, a Philosophy course, has four. FR 307, Topics in Advanced Conversation and Composition, an upper level French class, has one. Virginia Wesleyan offers a lot of majors — 42, according to the VWU website — some of which are very crowded. Business and Biology are the largest, according to a Marlin Chronicle review of publicly available information and information given by several professors. Some majors are less populated. “I’m pretty sure I’m the only French major,” Abby Villacrusis, a senior and double major in French and Media and Communication, said. Dr. Alain Gabon, associate professor of French, confirmed, although both said that another student was
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle Dr. Alain Gabon and Abby Villacrusis in front of congugation practice for the phrase “I hate myself” with different subjects. going to declare upon return from her study abroad in France. The experience of being the only declared major is rare, even at a school as small as Virginia Wesleyan. According to Villacrusis, it has its upsides. “If I need a class, I can just directly email Dr. Gabon,” Villacrusis said. She described a conflict in her class schedule with
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“Local offices hold the keys on how to conduct the political process at the most basic level,” - Lucas Gordon WLOS|Courtesy
a required class for Media and Communication, where Gabon was willing to adjust the class time slot to allow her to take both. She said that would not have happened in Media and Communication. Most professors in larger majors would find it much more difficult to
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