Once again, the Covid-19 pandemic left the students and staff of Lakeland Regional High School without the pleasure of a live, in-person Coffee House. However, that didn’t stop the students and staff from sharing their talents with the community. On February 4, the 2021 Winter Coffee was released on the Lakeland TV’s YouTube channel for all to enjoy. 

Performer David DaSilva, freshman, said, “I usually perform in front of a live audience. However, I was very happy that I still could perform during these Covid times and share some music for the Coffee House.” DaSilva who got the chance to show off his talent of playing guitar and bass, all in one video. 

Senior Alana Beshaw, who performed “Dream A little Dream of Me” by Mama’s and the Papa’s, said,  “The most fun part of performing was being able to show others a skill of mine that is not reflected in my grades and I don’t get to show off on a daily basis.” 

Student performances also included the Big Christmas band, who were able to put together all of their individual instruments and pieces in order to create one large piece that sounded great. The band Haxan performed “Mouth of War,” a cover of Panera. 

The Coffee House is not only just students, but also staff  like Mr. Kyle Letsche, special services and Mr. Michael Kelly, teacher of science,  both showed off their musical skills to the Lakeland community. 

Towards the end of the video, Mr. Letsche played his guitar that he actually built himself, saying “It was extremely rewarding to be able to create a playable guitar.” 

Even though there were many challenges standing in the way, students and staff were able to put together a great show that was all tied together in the end with the editing help from Mr. Jonathan Lauder, technology teacher.  He said, “Considering everything that is going on with the pandemic, the virtual Coffee Houses are a nice way to show off the talents of our Lakeland Community…Having the chance to create such big performances like the big holiday piece was cool to see how even during this everyone could come together to put together something so cool.”