Cups of apple cider, colorful buckets of chalk and poetry books set the scene along the Red Cedar River Wednesday.

The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities Center for Poetry held its annual poetry chalking event just east of Farm Lane on the river trail.

The annual event is a way to meet people, get poetry into the community and spread awareness about the center, Linnea Jimison,  assistant director of the RCAH Center for Poetry, said as she passed out sticks of brightly colored chalk wrapped with printed poems.

Jimison said poetry is important to students’ education because it gets them to think about the world from a broader perspective and express themselves.

“I think poetry encourages kids to think in a different way,” RCAH junior and Center for Poetry intern Kelsey Block said.

Psychology and English senior Sarah Denick  said she thinks poetry has been abandoned in education and society as of late, but it is beginning to reappear.

After chalking a poem by Danish poet Henrik Nordbrandt,  neuroscience junior Ben Coberly  said other students could benefit from poetry and the humanities, just as he has.

“I have a personal connection to it, and I feel that a lot of people would also have a personal connection to it,” Coberly said.

Jimison said she believes there’s a poem for everything .

“We say people who don’t like poetry just haven’t found the right kind,” she said.

Jimison said all students are welcome to stop by the center’s office to browse its library.

The RCAH Center for Poetry is located on Snyder hall’s second floor, next to the  LookOut! Gallery, and is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For an in-depth look at the fall poetry chalking, check out The State News YouTube channel or statenews.com.