EAST LANSING, Mich — The atmosphere at Michigan State University has been eerie and somber for the past week since a gunman opened fire on campus, killing three students and wounding more.
As students returned to classes on Monday, the motto of "Spartan Strong" remained a fierce reminder that the mass shooting on MSU's campus won't stop them from moving forward.
Carter Hazen, a junior at MSU, said he has not left the university since the shooting happened on Feb. 13. While returning to classes is difficult, he is trying his best to move forward.
"You're not going to bring us down like that, so we'll be back here," Hazen said. "This our home. We love this place. You're not going to push us off."
Eva Talberg, a sophomore at MSU, decided to brighten up campus walkways with chalk-written words of encouragement.
"It's kind of a universal type-experience, so that's what I'm doing with chalk," Talberg said. "I just want people to see the colors as they come to class."
She said it is hard to walk past the memorials to the slain students -- Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderon -- but said the support she has seen from the student body gives her hope.
Talberg didn't have class on Monday but said she expects attendance to be lower.
Hazen agreed: "People will deal with what they want to do in their own specific ways and I will have no judgment for people that don't want to sit in a big classroom."
Dawn Burns, an assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, said professors understand the hesitancy of students, too, which is why she is meeting with her students one-on-one this week instead of in class.
"What students need most in this moment is less about academic pressure, tests and papers and more about just processing what they went through," Burns said.
She said she has heard from a number of her students who have had different emotions towards what has happened. Some want to return to normalcy and others are concerned about setting foot on campus again.
Burns teaches creative writing and her curriculum this week is focused on healing.
"Some of them have already written about what they went through," she said. "As a writing professor, that's something that I encourage and one of the ways that I can process and heal."