Student voice can often become a rarity in school settings. Amid standardized tests, stressful deadlines, insurmountable workloads, and too many commitments to count, student artistic expression seems almost like a comet in the dark — you’ll miss it if you’re not looking in the right place; if the sky hasn’t gotten dark enough, if you blink. Forest Grove High School is a meteor shower when it comes to this expression, and this is in large part to a very special event called Open Vik Night. Open Vik Night is essentially an open mic — not fine-tuned to any specific art. The acts range from musical talents, poetry, monologues, stand-up comedy, to even whistling; the possibilities are endless.

Open Vik Night offers students at Forest Grove High School the platform needed to let their voices be heard in any way they see fit. It’s a stage open to all students to let them tell the world who they are, or at least tell them the journey of how they’re going to figure it out — and the audience eats it right up. There are few other atmospheres in the world more welcoming than the crowd gathered around the stage at Open Vik Night, with all their shoulders bumping and all their voices slowly going numb throughout the night as they belt out their praise to performers. Every act is met with a standing ovation, and not just out of kindness: the audience collectively believes every act deserves the highest recognition they can give. The entire room is alive with everyone’s desire to see the next the act, to show them they love them, to let every single person in that room know they are heard. It’s a feeling only felt a few times in a lifetime — and Forest Grove High School has managed to recreate it 12 times since 2014 when the first Open Vik Night was hosted. All thanks to students.

Open Vik Night has been notorious for its late-night endeavors, often hosting its last performance well past 11 or even midnight, as it was with the last Open Vik Night in March. The sign-up sheet is often 3 pages long with scribbled signatures of students eager to share of piece of themselves with the world. For this next OVN, however, committees have decided to limit the number of sign-ups to the first 40, purely for time management reasons so kids are not staying out past curfew and risking possible punishment.

The next Open Vik Night will be Friday, May 18th at 7pm in the library. The sign-ups are first-come-first-served so make sure to sign up quick if you feel that desire to share a piece of you with the world as so many others do. This Open Vik Night will be pajama-themed, though sleeping is the last thing we’ll be thinking of as we’re swept away by the sheer talent of our peers. If you’re looking for that one place that artistic expression comes alive in the voices of your fellow students, or even yourself — you’ve found it. We hope to see you there!