The Mt. Hope Music Cafe — an open mic night for students — returned to in-person performances last week in the Mt. Hope cafeteria after a long hiatus due to COVID, bringing together a wide range of talented students who performed a variety of songs on their instruments of choice.

“I honestly think this is one of the best music cafes I’ve seen,” said Emily Marino, co-president of the school’s Vocal Ensemble, who also performed “Daydream Believer” on piano. “It was so fun to see everybody in person and it was almost exactly like it was before. It was such a great night. Everyone is always such a phenomenal performer and we always try to get a different variety of music and instruments. We have some guitar, some piano, some electric guitar and ukulele. I’m really looking forward to the next ones.”

Marino said that she is consistently amazed by the amount of talented students that choose to perform at the open mic nights, and that they find inspiration through supporting one another.

“We all really just hype each other up and care about each other a lot,” she said. “There is so much talent in this small town and this little high school that it’s kind of unfathomable to me.”

Story by Ethan Hartley with reporting from Richard W. Dionne Jr.