Mouth of the River

As the main lights are switched off in the Oyster River High School (ORHS) Multi-Purpose Room (MPR), and the multicolored spotlights are turned on, the Mouth of the River (MOR) staff begin to set up Coffee House. With a $5 admission, students gather to watch performances ranging from poems, to solos, duets and bands to even stand-up comedy. With the food and drinks table stationed in the back, students, teachers and community members start to congregate in the MPR signaling the start of Coffee House.

Coffee House is the quarterly event hosted by MOR, posing as both a fundraiser and the issue release party. The magazine is left on display at the door for students and teachers to read and take home after the event, but it isn’t the only piece of hard work put in by the staff. As each member works to write the articles that fill the magazine, each team —business, creative, editing, and content—works to grow the MOR platform. For the business team, their goal is to create a balance between spending and earnings, which is where Coffee House comes into play. With the five-dollar admission, MOR can raise around $300 per coffee house to help pay for printing of the next issues.

As previously mentioned, Coffee House has another benefit: the end of quarter party. For MOR staff, it is the time to celebrate all the hard work they have put into their articles. It symbolizes that the long checklist of rigorous work is finally complete, at least until the next issue. Isabelle Jackman (’26), MOR Business team leader, says, “It is both a beginning and ending. An ending for the past issue, and a beginning for the next one and the topics we will uncover.”

This party isn’t just for MOR staff, but for all the students and teachers that fill the MPR. Students and teachers get to celebrate that another quarter of school is complete and performers get to share their talents. Every person that attends, performs or plans, is a part of Coffee House, but it would not have existed without the original idea.

The event hasn’t always belonged to MOR. It was once started by a club called PIT, a small hangout for artists to come together and perform. As the artists graduated, it started to dissipate, but around 2011-2012 it came back together. The first meeting had nine students and Shawn Kelly, MOR adviser, in attendance, with a guitar amplifier for them to perform. Next time around, it grew to 30 people. Even after the spike in attendance, the seniors graduated and the event disappeared, but the idea was not forgotten and resurfaced in 2014.

“MOR needed a fundraiser. I was like, ‘Oh, we could reboot Coffee House and charge five bucks,’” said Kelly. This was the moment that PIT was adopted by MOR. At the time, MOR posted five issues instead of four, so coffee house didn’t line up with the release dates, but that didn’t stop it from flourishing. What started on the stage of the MPR had grown so big that it became a safety hazard. “It got pretty big, pretty fast,” said Kelly. “We had over 100 people on that stage over and over again… It was so packed that once you sat down, you couldn’t walk past the people next to you.”

Now Coffee House is hosted on the floor of the MPR, with a huge mat as the stage and the lights off so the room can be illuminated by the spotlights. The MOR staff spend their afternoon working to create a cozy vibe with tapestries and string lights around the room. Amanda Sellers (’27) says, “I like the atmosphere. It was very calming and it was nice to be at school for something fun.” Colleen Keeley, art teacher at ORHS adds on, “It is a low-pressure social event; you don’t have to talk to people, you could go to read MOR or just watch the performances.”

Coffee House is organized by MOR, but it would not get the hype it does and would not function without the amazing performers that have performed over the years; they are the true heart of coffee house.

For Jilliene Smith (’28), she loves to perform. In her freshman year she was looking for more ways to share her talent with the school. When she heard about Coffee House, she signed up immediately. “I heard it was through a magazine, and I didn’t know if it would be something the school was big about,” she said, but in her first semester of her freshman year, she signed up with a bunch of her friends to perform. She adds, “I love the community it brings. I never would’ve expected so many people to be so talented.”

With all the dancing or singing that happens at Coffee House it can be a little draining, but MOR does a great job fueling with food and drink. Whether it’s chips and salsa, veggies and dip, brownies or cookies, or even the ORHS renowned mac and cheese; the food is gone by the end of the night. Not only does the food disappear but so do the drinks. MOR get two carafes from the Freedom Café to keep the guests refreshed.

The final Coffee House each year is a special one. It serves as a final goodbye to not only the student seniors or MOR seniors but also the art seniors. In addition, the fourth quarter coffee house aligns with the senior art show, so attendees get to marvel not only at the performances, but also the incredible painting, drawings and sculptures created by the seniors. “I love it so much. The art show Coffee House is a great way to end the year and celebrate all the seniors of not just MOR but all the senior art students,” said Keeley.

Coffee House started as a small idea and has grown to become a sensation. Whether it is poems, or songs, mac and cheese, brownies, chai or hot chocolate, or even just silly jokes to keep the audience entertained, coffee house has it. With all of that in mind, make sure to stop by the next Coffee House from 6-8pm on April 9th and our quarter 4 Coffee House 6-8pm on May 29^th.

-Thea Smith