Kent State has just the place for students who like poetry and wish there was a place to enjoy today’s poets and listen to the poets of tomorrow.

The Wick Poetry Center, on campus since 1984, will offer four events this fall. The center is nationally recognized as “one of only 10 poetry centers in the country,” according to its Web site.

In addition to bringing in published poets, the center offers scholarships every year for the best poetry of high school seniors.

“I can safely say the Wick Poetry Center has changed my life,” said Bryan Gattozzi, past scholarship winner. “The Wick Center helped me realize I was good at something.”

The tuition scholarships offered by the Wick Center have been given out for more than 20 years. As well as being offered to high school seniors, the scholarship is also open to past winners who re-apply while in college.

The Wick Center not only gives out scholarships, but also provides a sense of community for the students involved.

“Kent State has something so rare in its poetry program, and I am lucky to have been a part of it,” said Carly Sachs, past scholarship winner. “All of the faculty are truly dedicated to their art and to their students.”

Past scholarship winners and the students who received scholarships this year will be reading their poetry at a reception in October.

The center brings a culturally diverse offering to the campus, said David Hassler, Wick Center program and outreach director. The center is having four poets come to campus for three different events.

Judith Harris, poet and author of Signifying Pain: Constructing and Healing the Self through Writing, will be reading in September at the Student Center.

The second reading will feature Ariana-Sophia M. Kartsonis and Eleanor Wilner. Hassler said it will be the most important reading.

Kartsonis will be on campus for one week in October, offering a one-credit hour workshop, which is a unique opportunity for students to attend.

The third set of events will bring Eintou Pearl Springer to campus in November. Springer will be doing two shows: a reading and a one-woman performance of “Shades of I-She.” Because Springer is from Trinidad, citizens from that country will be cooking their native foods at some of Springer’s appearances.

The Wick Center has been expanding, and has recently moved to the second floor of the library.

“We would like to see it grow,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Jerry Feezel said.

The Wick Poetry Center has brought many established poets to campus, in addition to creating its own. The center offers scholarships, readings and a sense of community among those who share an interest.

Contact College of Arts and Sciences reporter Anna Riggenbach at [email protected].