The room was lightly lit. Poets, writers, and artists shared laughter and smiles.

Many in attendance had contributed to the newest publication of Chrysalis for Spring 2024–and this was their moment.

The front of the book was wrapped in a warm sunset–colors of pink, orange, purple, and light yellow soared over the front to  the back. Smaller pine trees branched in front of the sunset to become silhouettes broadcasting their spiny look across the pages.

Scout Lynch, editor-in-chief, opened up the evening–the semi-annual Chrysalis reveal–with welcoming remarks and jokes about public speaking and never being found of it. Lynch embraced the role and started to speak.

It began with the announcements of the contest winners. The categories consisted of poetry, photography, art, and prose.

“With such lovely Artwork entries, the first place goes to Mattie Green, (sophomore),” Lynch said.

Her piece was a cupboard filled with broken tea cups and plates, their was an obituary sadly placed on the side, reading the wife’s husband had died. Her pearls were placed in a delicate position right beside rat poisoning.

The crowd seemed shocked.

Green began to say that the wife had slipped rat poisoning into her husband’s tea. The title of her 3D art work was called “One Lump or Two?”

Lynch then announced the second-place winner in Art. The piece was titled “Growing Pains” by Eliza Copes, freshman. This piece showed a hair and a brain sewn together by silver string and had flowers blossoming from the top. The artist told the story of how sometimes life gets torn apart, but the silver lining of life sews it back together. The flowers represent the perseverance through hard times.

Following the art work was Poetry, and the first-place winner was Green, with “Where I’m From”.

This piece caused a hush over the whole room, and the audience applauded when she finished reading it.

The second-place winner for Poetry, was by an Anonymous Artist. It was titled “This is What I Do Instead of Doing My Homework”. This love poem described the moments left up to grabs by thoughts of his or her love.

This followed into Photography, where “Airborne” by Cody Agnell, freshman, took first place. The photo showed two wrestlers grasping at air as they came down onto the mat.

The second-place photo went to Lynch, for a picture of their black- and white-faced cat with shiny amber and black eyes. It was named “George Wilpurr” after her grandfather George Wilburr.

The final event of the evening was Prose.

When Lynch announced the first-place winner, they smiled and said their own name. The piece was named “CC Can you D” .

Lynch began to read the first part of the prose and smiled while they talked about their grandmother, who influenced them so much.

The last piece of the contest was the second-place prose. Emily Bass, junior, won it with her piece “I Really Do Love My Hair Short”. The piece showed moments from her youth where she had to cut her hair short.

The rest of the evening was committed to looking at the rest of the book filled with images of brightly colored flowers, sunsets behind the college’s pond, cities, sports, rain drops, more poems, art, and stories