Makeshift coffee house draws 50 students

Hampton - Call it a lesson in courage and support. More than a dozen Kittatinny Regional High School students performed original poems, songs, and plays during an open microphone night at the school. A crowd of about 50 spectators showered performers with applause and accolades as they faced the microphone in a makeshift coffee house, patterned after the coffee house movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, inside the chorus room. High school English teacher Jennifer Gialanella deemed the program “a huge success.” “The students who were present truly understood how tough it was to get up in front of a group and share something personal. They were endlessly supportive of each other and that was so refreshing to see,” she said. Brian Collis, a senior from Sandyston, mesmerized onlookers with a bass jam. Strumming his acoustic guitar, host, senior Jon Petry, of Stillwater performed two original songs. Stillwater junior Nicholas Maskal surprised Gialanella with a homespun take-off of Shakespeare’s comedy, “The Taming of the Shrew.” Five other students helped bring the comic scene to life. Brittany Wilkerson performed an impromptu rant on global warming. Do women really need aerosol hairspray, she mused among other sentiments on the subject. “Does it make you feel manly to drive that big burly truck that gets 11 miles to the gallon?” she added. Some spectators joined in an interpretative dance on global warming. For performers and spectators, it was a night to remember. “We don’t get too many nights like this. So when we get to express ourselves with poetry and writing, it’s a good thing,” remarked junior Will Rivera of Stillwater.