Students waking up for class this morning may notice some positive messages chalked around campus.

Sunday evening, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center canvassed the campus as part of the 2nd Annual You-Are-Loved Chalk Message Project.

Students used sidewalk chalk to write messages to uplift and inspire their peers.

Megan Armstrong, senior health education major, told the chalkers to be creative with their messages, but to keep it “based on love.”

“Make it beautiful, something that will catch people’s eyes,” she said, encouraging them to use hearts and a lot of color.

The chalking is part of the nationwide You-Are-Loved Chalk Message Project, an annual anti-suicide campaign of positive messages.

Freshman undecided major David Nam, one of the students writing chalk messages, said he knows it can be tough not having support.

Nam said he hopes students who feel alone or bullied will be comforted by the messages.

“I just wanted to let them know that it doesn’t matter how long [it takes],” he said. “Life will turn up eventually.”

According to statistics listed on the campaign’s website, LGBT youth “are four to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.”

The messages are not directed at any group of students, but Molly Holmes, director of the LGBT Recource Center, said she felt they were especially important for LGBT students who may feel isolated and depressed.

“The messages are meant to reassure really anyone that feels alone,” Holmes said.

The event comes at a time when young LGBT suicides are prominent in the news. Last month, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and another classmate allegedly used a webcam to secretly broadcast his dorm-room sexual encounters with another man. Clementi’s suicide is one of a number of gay teen suicides related to bullying to be reported over the last two weeks.

“Because of the fact that in the news we’ve had so many LGBT suicides, this is a great time to be doing it,” Armstrong said, who is a student assistant at the LGBT Resource Center.

The event was planned as part of the Resource Center’s celebration of LGBT History Month. Holmes said the event was not rescheduled or altered in light of the suicides, but said she thought some students were more driven to participate because of it.

Holmes expressed her feeling that NIU has a strong LGBT community and said that the Resource Center tries to equip LGBT students to help their peers.

“If any LGBT students are struggling, I’m here,” Holmes said. “They really aren’t alone.”

Managing Editor Matt Liparota and The Associated Press contributed to this article.