Written by Maggie Samples \/\/ Photo by Balazs Balassa<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Harding student has gone viral on TikTok for a series of videos filmed in her dorm room, with a video reaching over 4 million views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophomore transfer student Maggie Tackitt created a TikTok series opening 14 moving out gifts from her mother. Tackitt had never gone to school away from home, and her mother left her small presents to open every day. She made a TikTok for each day and posted it to her account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like making videos,\u201d Tackitt said. \u201cI\u2019ve always liked making videos.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before her series went viral, Tackitt had 150 followers. She now has over 13,000 followers. The videos were getting thousands of likes overnight, and people were waiting for the daily videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt that point, I was overwhelmed,\u201d Tackitt said, \u201cbut I kept making videos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the process of meeting other students as a transfer, Tackitt met people who had already seen, liked or saved her videos. She used her viral videos as an icebreaker while meeting people on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a lot of pressure,\u201d Tackitt said, \u201cbecause now I feel like I have to find something else to do. I mean obviously I don\u2019t need their attention, but it made people really happy, and I need to keep that up, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tackitt\u2019s roommate, junior transfer Kaycee Hatley said Tackitt was completely surprised by her mother\u2019s gift, and she thinks that was one of the things that made it a really good gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first couple of weeks away from home in a completely new environment can be pretty overwhelming,\u201d Hatley said. \u201cHer mom clearly foresaw the challenges she would face as she adjusted, so she put in the effort to give her daughter something to look forward to each day when she woke up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hatley said she enjoyed the excitement of a new gift each morning and the progress of the TikTok series. She said the majority of people had supportive comments about the videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lori Sloan, assistant professor of communication, said bad things go viral easily and can ruin a person\u2019s reputation. She said she was glad Tackitt\u2019s viral series was a happy thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud that it\u2019s something that people can say, \u2018This is a girl from Harding,\u2019\u201d Sloan said, \u201cthat it\u2019s something sweet and fun that her mom did for her and that it isn\u2019t something bad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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