EAST LANSING — Kirin Krafthefer is a sophomore at Michigan State University and one of the organizers of Sunday's peaceful walkout.
The idea for the event came from this website she started, Spartan Stronger.
She said after February 13's campus shooting she blogged on the website her experience and "I kind of wanted to open up that platform to other MSU students who may want to share their story."
Since then other students have blogged their stories on the site, it's a concept that was taken from keyboard and screen to pen and notecard Sunday afternoon.
Co-organizer of the walkout Hannah Grenspan explained what students were asked to write on the notecards; "It could be something like a detailed description of the day, it could be a single word, or an emotion they’ve been feeling, it could be a poem, it could be a text they sent, it could be whatever they think they’re story of 2/13 is."
The documentation began at 2:13 p.m. Sunday, an homage to the date February 13 of the campus shooting.
Counselors and emotional support dogs were present for those who would benefit.
A crowd of students attended to write down their individual story which will now be part of an exhibit put on display at the entryway at MSU's museum.
"Then student who were there can kind of see that they’re not alone," said Grenspan. "They’ll see the stories of other Spartans that had similar experiences to them."
The student organizers ay that next to the exhibit there will be a dropbox where other students can come and drop off a notecard with their own story to be added.
Whether it's a story of having to barricade themselves in a classroom, a story of visiting a classmate at the hospital, or a story of feeling the support from the community in the weeks following... every story is important, and deserves to be heard.
Krafthefer said; "We’re looking at people who 20 years from now can bring their kids back and hopefully look at their stories in the archives if they want to tell their story."
The exhibit is planned on display through mid-April then the notecards with go into the MSU museum archives.
