Students turn Vines Center into ‘The North Pole’ at Christmas Coffeehouse

Photos by Gabrielle Calhoun

Liberty University students lit up the Vines Center stage Friday night with Christmas song renditions and choreographed musical numbers, all centered around this year’s Christmas Coffeehouse theme — “The North Pole.”

Coffeehouse is a bi-annual event, presented by Student Activities, that showcases students’ many talents, providing fun and festive entertainment for more than 8,000 of their peers to enjoy. The event is one of the most popular and heavily attended campus activities each semester.

A number of Christmas hits were performed throughout the night, including “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” “Cold December Night,” “This Christmas,” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

“It surprised me that we had such talented groups on Liberty’s campus,” said junior Sarah Capps, who attended Christmas Coffeehouse for the first time. “I’m so glad I went this year.”

Junior Abby Hayes performed Meghan Trainor’s “I’ll Be Home” alongside five of her friends.

“There was so much love and support from all the students,” she said. “It was such a unique experience to be able to perform in front of not only classmates and friends but family for life.”

Friday night marked Hayes’ second Coffeehouse performance.

A handful of video submissions played throughout the night as well, many of which were humorous spoofs of popular music and television shows. One video parodied life at Liberty over the beat of Kesha’s “Tik Tok,” and another clip, “Keeping up with the Commuters,” played off the reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”

“Christmas Coffeehouse is one of my favorite traditions at Liberty,” Student Activities Director Steph Ward said. “From preparing the event to getting to execute it the night of, it’s so refreshing and fulfilling to see it all come together. I am blown away each and every year with the talent of Liberty students and all they offer to make this event successful. I look forward to Christmas Coffeehouse each fall semester and am so proud of all the students and staff who made this event possible.”

Student Activities puts on Coffeehouse each semester, among several other concerts, game nights, and events designed to connect students with their friends, their campus, and the culture.

Spring 2019 Coffeehouse will take place April 13, the theme of which will be announced early next year. For information about upcoming events, visit Liberty.edu/SA.