Star Tribune
Older adults don’t know TikTok. Gen Z does, and they’re taking over college recruiting videos
Three University of St. Thomas interns spent the lunch hour dashing around campus, cell phones and microphone in hand, asking fellow students: Do you want to be in a video?
They were on a mission to film a TikTok video outlining 23 reasons teenagers should enroll at the private university in St. Paul. One by one they gathered answers. “Dance team.” “Rowing team.” “The music program.” “My cousin.”
As the competition for new college students intensifies and crucial admissions deadlines loom, a growing number of Minnesota universities are handing their TikTok accounts over to their students, who understand the social media platform best. Schools still offer tours and other events on campus, but TikTok gives them a chance to catch teenagers’ attention while they’re scrolling through their phones.
“Obviously, the way students do their college search is changing always,” said Kristen Hatfield, the university’s director of admissions. “And so, it’s great to have student interns who have been through it not that long ago.”
A survey released by Pew Research Center last year found that nearly 67% of American teenagers use TikTok, an app that allows people to share short video clips — and 16% say they use it almost constantly. That surpasses their usage of other platforms like Facebook and Twitter that were favored by previous generations.
While some schools have shunned the platform over security concerns, many others are embracing it, noting that they’re not sharing sensitive information and it’s increasingly important to find students in spaces that feel comfortable to them.
College recruitment is expected to get more difficult in the coming years. The number of U.S. high school graduates is expected to begin decreasing after 2025, due in part to a drop in birth rates that began in 2008.
This stage in the recruitment process is especially crucial. Many colleges set a May 1 deadline for enrolling, though some continue to work with prospective students after that.
In earlier stages of the admissions process, students are deciding what to study, where to apply, and whether their financial aid offers are adequate. When they’ve narrowed it down to the last few schools, both admissions officers and current students say the final decision often comes down to a different question: Can they envision a life there?
The TikTok videos offer a glimpse of that life — often with a laugh thrown in.
Horses and winter shorts
A video from the University of Minnesota, Crookston, shows Ted the quarter horse ranking foods given to him by students. Apples are juicy and score 10 out of 10. Lettuce is bland and scores just five.
Another video follows a student traveling from a morning class to a carwash fundraiser and then to a lab where students are taking a blood draw for a horse.
“We feel that when the students are talking about what they’re up to, what classes they’re in, what they’re involved in, what it’s like to be a student here, that really just resonates with that age group,” said Jess Bengtson, a communications specialist at Crookston.
Carleton College launched its TikTok account last summer, with the help of eight student fellows. Among them was Stella Dennehy, a junior, who continues to run the account now.
Some of the videos are focused plainly on recruitment, highlighting the dates for admitted student events or campus tours, or announcing application deadlines.
Others are meant to be fun and light-hearted, and capture the off-beat sense of humor that permeates the campus culture. One highlights the fashion available at the campus bookstore. Another notes which dining hall has the flourless chocolate torte. Another jokes about Oscar, the taxidermy penguin that serves as an unofficial mascot.
And another shows a student explaining the decision to wear shorts when it’s 20 below: “It’s not that cold.”
“Alums can talk about the college. Staff can talk about the college. But the only person who is able to tell you what it’s truly like to attend it in this moment is the student,” Dennehy said.
The University of St. Thomas is relying on just that approach. Videos produced by its student interns tend to be some of the most popular, with many garnering thousands of views.
In one video, intern Sophia Huber asks fellow Tommies to rattle off digits in the number pi in exchange for a slice of pie. In another, intern Olivia Russell dances off into the Easter break. In another, intern Sofia Miranda asks students to guess whether lyrics were written by William Shakespeare or Taylor Swift.
The interns, all students in the business program, get a chance to work in the “future of marketing,” Huber said. The university gains from having the students’ perspective.
“It’s the perfect marriage,” Hatfield said.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
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