Prefect Council and Community Council jointly hosted a holiday-themed Coffee House. after school on Monday, Dec. 3 to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims.
The Coffee House, along with the Community Service Club Fair during Activities Period, marked the beginning of Community Service Week, which Community Council organized to promote community service to students.
“Community Council approached [Prefect Council] because they are having a community service week, and they wanted to incorporate a Coffee House to generate student hype and participation,” Junior Prefect Henry Hahn ’14 said last week. “The Coffee Houses have always been great school community events, and we have previously considered ways of incorporating a fundraising element into them, so this just seemed like a good fit.”
Although the ice-blended coffee and refreshments in this year’s second Coffee House were free, students were encouraged to donate at least $10 to go towards victims of Superstorm Sandy, in keeping with Community Service Week.
With the exception of Molly Chapman ’14 and Jensen McRae ’15, who performed original songs, the majority of the 18 acts were covers, ranging from songs by artists like Joni Mitchell to educational program Schoolhouse Rock.
“If you’ve ever felt emotions, you can relate to it,” Varun Gadh ’14 said before launching into a rendition of Schoolhouse Rock’s “Constitution Preamble.”
Cory Batchler ’13 was the only performer at Coffee House who didn’t sing. Instead, he performed the slam poem “Swag” by George Watsky, delivering lines like “My punchlines are like lost baggage—you’ll get them in a couple days” to the audience.
Batchler also performed slam poetry at the school year’s first Coffee House a month ago, though that time he performed an original piece. He doesn’t actively perform slam poetry, he said, but became interested in it this past summer, and decided to perform when Coffee House gave him the opportunity to do so.
“Everyone always sings songs,” Batchler said. “No one ever does what actually happens at coffee houses, so I thought I’d go and do some poetry.”
Kenneth Kim ’13 closed the show with a cover of “Too Close.” Kim has performed at Coffee House multiple times.
“I really enjoy singing and playing and learning modern songs, and Coffee House is a way for me to showcase that,” Kim said.
