By: Kevin Thomas ~Staff Writer~

Students expressed themselves in front of their peers in a variety of ways at the open mic event hosted by the Student Activity Council  (SAC) last Wednesday night. The event was named “Thanks-a-Latte” and featured a folk-rock duo from Brooklyn, N.Y., called Hunt for Hunter. It was the first open mic of its kind to happen on campus.

A stage was set up in the atrium of Gallagher Student Center (GSC) for the open mic, which ran from 8 – 10 p.m., and around a dozen different individuals made their way to the stage to perform music, sing, read poetry or present pieces of spoken word.

“Personally, I enjoyed being able to see my fellow students perform either their own creations or covers of other people’s creations or even share their own poetry,” first-year Kelsey Kraft said. “I thought that was interesting.”

Sophomore Eva Weber, who performed a song with her ukulele, enjoyed the experience and hopes for more opportunities like it.

“It was very fun,” Weber said. “I think relaxed expression of yourself is important. There’s not a lot of opportunities for people who aren’t professionals or more or less professionals to perform, so I think it was nice that they did that.”

The two members of Hunt for Hunter, Ian Hunt and Michael Hunter, performed alongside Xavier students and thought that the event was a success as well.

“It was the best first open mic that I’ve ever seen. It’s great to get people out, especially students, on a Wednesday night,” Hunter said.

Hunter, the other half of the band, thought that open mics are incredibly important events to have for students.

“[An open mic] is how I started, playing the open mic in my dorm’s basement. When I started, I was terrible. An open mic gives people a place to try out stuff and find out what they’re good at. If I hadn’t had those open mics at my college, I don’t think I would have become a professional musician,” Hunter said.

While not intended to propel any single person into becoming a professional, the open mic event was a way for students to relax and wind down before the upcoming exams.

“So what we wanted to do for our open mic event was kind of give a fun study break for students where they can come out and share their talents, have a good time, have some good snacks, and just have fun,” said sophomore Becky Hagedorn, a SAC member who supervised the event.