As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), Montgomery College held Chalk the Walk events for the first time at all three campuses earlier this month.

Chalk the Walk is done across the country. It entails writing “messages of awareness, hope, and prevention” on campus sidewalks, according to a flier.

At the Rockville campus, there were messages like “We can end sexual violence” and “Asking for consent is sexy!” Some students wrote messages in their native languages, such as Spanish and Vietnamese.

Kristen Roe, the college’s Deputy Title IX Coordinator, said that this has been the largest SAAM that MC has had. Chalk the Walk is one of many events that are part of SAAM.

Roe said there had been a “really good” response. She described the event as “low cost but high impact.” There are plans to repeat the event next year, she said.

Roe said that she was happy to see that participation in Chalk the Walk was about equally split between men and women. According to Roe, it says good things about MC when both men and women can talk openly about sexual assault.

“We definitely need more chalk,” Roe said because people had written enough messages and went through the chalk quickly.