Tri-M Hosts 10th Annual Coffee House Event 2025

Welcome back LBHS! Friday, January 10th was Long Beach High School’s annual Open Mic Night/Coffee House! The event was held in the commons by our very own Long Beach High School’s Music Honor Society (Tri-M)! This event has been a tradition held annually by Tri-M. It’s an event where you can showcase your musical talent, eat some good food, and an audience that’s cheering on the performers.

I went and checked it out since I’m a Freshman, and didn’t know what it was all about. When I was there, I took pictures of the performances and I asked a couple of students why they liked coming to the Coffee House. Some responses I got were:

“It’s a lot of fun and you get to see the talent that other students have.”

“I’m here because I want to see the talent within Long Beach High School.”

“The environment is fun.”

I also asked Stephania Robinson, the Vice President of Community Service for Tri-M why Tri-M does Coffee House every year. She said, “A lot of the music students are able to share what they do in the ensembles, like the chorus and the band and orchestra. But Coffee House lets them shine in smaller groups with different genres.” I loved what she had to say; I thought it was an amazing thing to continue because shining a light on people who are less likely to put themselves in the spotlight is very important.

When the performances started I, unfortunately, couldn’t get every single performance/performer written down. To kick off the Coffee House event, the first people up were Luke Morita, Ronan Morita, Aaron Turbek, and Daniel Brenner. They played a wonderful song called ‘March Blue Spring’ by Masafumi Suzuki on their instruments. 

A few more wonderful performances happened, but what really caught my attention was Mary Natindim singing ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ by Olivia Newton-John. Her voice was heavenly, I was in awe of her wonderful performance. Other notable performances were ‘If I Were a Boy’ by Beyoncé performed by Stephania Robinson and Kaitlyn Reyes. They both sounded amazing, Stephania sang the song very elegantly while Kaitlyn played the guitar skillfully. It was a very pleasant performance. Another notable performance was a Midwest Emo song performed by Sai Gomez (bass), Nanichi Arroyo Hill (guitar), Sean Kaprat (drums), and Gabby Stevenson (vocals). Nanichi and Sai were wonderful on their guitars; they were rocking the whole show. I was really enjoying it. And lastly ‘Creep’ by Radiohead was performed by Sai Gomez (bass), Eliot Biern (guitar), Nanichi Arroyo Hill (vocals), and Vincent Napolitano (drums). It was my number one performance. Nanichi’s vocals were amazing and the screams were fabulous. As I watched their awesome performance it felt as if I had escaped school. It felt like an actual concert. Sai and everyone else who played with him made me enjoy Coffee House even more. 

When the Coffee House performances ended, I reflected on the experience and the wonderful time I had.  I felt it was a good ‘get-together’ to show off our school’s musical talent and to socialize with friends. As my high school career continues, I will definitely continue to come. It was incredible and I really encourage you to come to the next one!