This year’s Fullerton College Beat Cafe consisted of 22 performers, including students, alumni and faculty. The acts consisted of singing, dancing, rapping and poetry.

The first to perform for the night was Mark Lopez, a student at Fullerton College, who sang “Don’t Lose Your Head” by Six the musical.

A memorable performance was from Anointed Hope, a Christian rapper who also attends FC. She performed two songs to which the crowd enjoyed.

“Anointed Hope was the best performance of tonight! Her talent is amazing,” said Jonathan Mejia, who attended the event.

Reah Colli, student hourly at the Cadena Cultural Center, sang two songs which caused a lot of attention from students. Many in attendance said that they did not expect her to sing because she was working the event as well. Many people in the crowd showed excitement and appreciation of her voice.

Hornet alumni Aaron, originally from Beijing, China, had an airline theme to his performance. It started off with him in a pilot suit, lights are dim, he tells everyone to sit back and enjoy their flight. He sings the song “Relax to fly” in Chinese. Many students enjoyed his unique performance.

At the end of his song, he spoke about having an unsupportive family that begged him to do sports instead of working on an airline, which was his dream. He was rejected many times until he got the job and now happily works as a flight attendant. He stated that he performed at the Beat Cafe, “to inspire others, become more social and maybe make some friends.”

Trisha James, a student and member of the Umoja Program at Fullerton performed a P.O.I. about an African-American girl who grew up in a society that expects black women to keep quiet and not express themselves.

“I think it is really important for people to talk about this issue because there still is a stigma going around about people of color today,” said James.

English professor Cynthia Guardado performed an original Salvadorian poem titled, “There isn’t enough money for your grief.” People in the crowd were visibly moved by the piece and. some were brought to tears. Guardado is the advisor of Livewire Literary Magazine at Fullerton College and invited all of the performers at the Beat Cafe to reach for a possible editorial piece on them in the magazine.

The event had a large turnout that leaves excitement for the next Beat Cafe in the fall of 2020.