Yesterday’s lunch yielded an excellent pavilion for students to kick back and relax. The sweet sounds and tunes helped escape from the looming metaphysical tidal wave of emotion and stress that is finals week. The open mic event was put on and overseen by San Luis Obispo High School Commissioner of Arts senior Dasha Novotny.

  “Open mic is a really fun lunchtime event that showcases students’ and teachers’ talents, while bringing together the community of the school. It encourages students to stay on campus as we also order great food from restaurants and sometimes get food trucks to come as well,” said Novotny. It hosted a wide array of musical covers from Tom Petty to Dr. Dre.

  First on the stage was senior Isabella Zuniga singing Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes”, an excellent performance to kick off the event and show the level and power of music that was to be displayed.

  Next on the mic was the duo of junior Joella Holmes and senior Camryn Goodwin playing guitar and singing “Spiderhead” by Cage the Elephant which captivated the audience and left students and staff alike hungry for the amazing artists and excellent songs to come. Latin teacher Tom Weinshenk was on stage soon after, enthralling the audience with some good ol’ blues. He was quickly followed by science teacher Ryan Ritchie’s performance of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”. Ritchie elegantly dedicated the song to the recently deceased artist with a touching “This one’s for Tom Petty.”

  And last, but certainly not least, SLOHS’s own quartet of music fanatics and enthusiasts, Guitarist’s seniors Miguel Ajanel, sophomore Isabella Devor and senior Nabeel El Sayed backed by drummer senior Noah Nelson. With El Sayed on keyboard as well and Devore and her eloquent vocals, the comely crew really had it all. Their first song was an artist original, composed by Devor. Subsequently followed by a stunning jam session consisting of all four artists showing their musical prowess. Ending this trimester’s open mic performance. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as El Sayed deftly hopped on the keyboard and pumped out the first few notes of “What’s the difference,” by Dr. Dre featuring Xzibit and Eminem. The other musical whiz kids followed suits and began following along as El Sayed began wildly rapping Xzibits verses. Throwing curses to the student audience left and right like a paper boy’s paper on a Tuesday morning and was shut down immediately. The performance left fans disappointed, yet generally satiated, by the total grandeur of musical capability at our school.

  Expressions hopes to see even more talented acts of students all across the campus at next trimester’s open mic event.