By Soumya Mehrotra
On Friday April 15^th, BeFREE hosted another coffeehouse.  The coffeehouse was hosted at the First Congregational Church of Hopkinton.  It started at 7 pm and was planned to go till 10:30, but because of all the amazing acts, it ended a bit later than planned.  At this coffeehouse, there were 15 performances.  Students from Hopkinton High School, whether bands or solo singers, did an amazing job, according to the audience that was there that night.  Over 100 students and parents from Hopkinton attended.

BeFREE usually charges money for the events that they host. To come to this coffeehouse, it cost $3. Collin Wiendersheim, one of the coordinators says, “We try to raise money for the BeFREE club at the high school while keeping it affordable.”  Aoibhinn Rice, one of the audience members at the coffeehouse says, “$3 for entry is a very reasonable price. The performers were great and we also got free snacks and refreshments so the money was definitely worth it.”

Olivia Spector, one of the performers, who was originally going to sing three songs, ‘Forget You’ by Cee lo Green, ‘Follow Through’ by Gavin DeGraw and ‘Disturbia’ by Rihanna, was not allowed to sing ‘Forget You’.  Since this event was hosted at a church, the BeFREE committee realized that singing ‘Forget You’ could lead to the audience singing along to the explicit version, which would not have been appropriate. Only a few hours before the event, Haley Batchelder, one of the BeFREE coordinators, contacted Olivia Spector and notified her that she was not allowed to sing ‘Forget You.’ Olivia Spector says, “I was a little disappointed when I heard that I was not allowed to sing ‘Forget You’, but I understand their situation.  Even though I couldn’t sing one of the songs I love, I got to sing ‘Boston’ by Augustana, which many people sang along to.”  Mrs. Hadley, another coordinator of the event says, “Since the coffeehouse was held at a church, we did not want to risk any vulgar language being used.”

This coffeehouse was the last BeFREE event for this year.  Mrs. Hadley says, “I know some people might be sad that this is the last coffeehouse for this year, but there is always next year! We are always looking for new participants to perform.”