How Michigan State Students Are Using TikTok To Heal After A Tragedy

On Valentine’s Day, the Michigan State University campus was silent. But TikTok was buzzing. 

The night before, a shooter killed three people and wounded five others in two buildings on campus. Between vigils and public memorials, many survivors — alone in their apartments, dorms, and back home with their families — began posting on TikTok, trying to figure out how to heal.

Among those students is Alena Buterakos, a 21-year-old psychology major from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who shared an 18-second TikTok to convey the eerie stillness of MSU campus the morning after the shooting. In her video, spaces that are usually filled with happy students are empty. There’s not a soul in sight, aside from two people laying flowers at a memorial.