Livewire hosted their fall semester open mic night where they showcased some of the artistic performers from Fullerton College campus. The Student Center dimmed the lights and created a spotlight for participating students to share different artistic pieces such as acapella, prose, and poetry.

The silence during the performances was maintained by only allowing students to enter and exit the room before and after a performance to respect the students sharing their pieces.

“I definitely enjoy this more of a creative surrounding. There’s no real pressure from any faculty or any curriculum to confine our creative writing,” said FC student Robert Validivia.

Christian Pinga, theatre major, was also in attendance and stated that he had never been to an open-mic before, he decided to come last minute and ended up enjoying the evening listening to his peers.

Students stressed how an artistic community is needed for students to feel more connected to the school culture.

Hope Gonzales, communications major, said that the night helped her feel more connected. Gonzales shared a ‘meditation piece’ during the open mic.

“I think an open mic is definitely something to ground a familial foundation to from a social group on campus,” said Gonzales. “The artistic events such as open mic nights can be useful for students to meet new people on campus.”

Cynthia Guardado, assistant professor of the english department, found the open mic night to be exciting and successful as usual.

“It’s always really cool to see a lot of new students come up and be encouraged by their peers,” said Guardado. “It allows students to see the different types of talents their peers have,” added Guardado.

FC student center wishes there were open mic nights on campus more consistently that students can attend, but that a lot of work goes into putting this event together. Sharing poems and other works of art can help spread the word to the rest of school about their peers work.

Although Guardado was lead to become an English professor due to her love of writing poetry, she is a published Salvadoran poet who has been writing poetry for 15 years and also has a book titled “Endeavor.” She spoke about how she is grateful for the opportunity to work with students with their creative writing process on campus and Livewire being one of those.

Guardado continued to speak about the upcoming issue and how the Livewire team still wants poetry submissions. The team has only accepted three poems so far. Students transferring universities creates open spots on the Livewire team and needed staff members every semester.