Talented students and teachers participated in this year’s winter Coffee House run by the National Honor Society. The show took place on Dec. 21 in the theater. Before being able to perform at Coffee House, students went through auditions where multiple judges critiqued their act. The judges then picked certain acts to participate in the Coffee House to make sure that the show was the best that it could be.

Proceeds went to support BIZAA (Basic Institute for Zonal African Advancement), which is an organization that focuses on moving African children from the streets and into classrooms. Each participant performed twice that night with one show at six, and the other at eight. They expressed themselves through singing, dancing and playing musical instruments.

Junior Sam Nitardy enjoys performing and doing the show with such talented and encouraging people.

“The main reason I like performing at Coffeehouse is that there are so many fun and talented people, with uplifting spirits. Another reason is that I know the students in the audience and it feels like home being on that stage,” Nitardy said.

Since the students have two opportunities to perform with the two shows, the people performing are a little more confident with their act after going through the first show. They feel more comfortable on stage and they start to relax more.

“The six o’clock performance was a little easier because we had already run through everything so we kind of knew how it was going to play out, although the environment during each performance was different because of the different people that we knew were going to be there,” lead singer of his band Third Street, junior Aj Schoenecker said.

Performing in front of such a big audience can make some of the performers nervous. Although some performers take that and use it as motivation to perform their best.

“I’ve performed multiple times with many competitions and school performances, so the rushing feeling that I get with the nerves, get me excited to my very best and entertain the most I can. I feel honored and grateful to have such a wonderful platform to perform on. I sometimes get too excited where I need to calm down and breathe,” Sam said.

Some of the people that participated in the winter Coffee House practiced their acts multiple times. However, some people like Nitardy will practice an incredibly intricate dance routine only a couple days in advance to help him be in the moment on stage.