The cold weather and late hour didn't stop a group of MSU students from gathering to paint The Rock on Farm Lane on Friday night in solidarity and support of the city of Paris and its people. 

Neuroscience senior Ryan Farrick said it all started when he posted into the Yik Yak app expressing interest in painting the Rock. 

"The Rock is an emblem of the university and also the community," Farrick said.

Farrick said it's important to show support for the mourning, suffering countries, most visibly Paris, to let them know there fellow countries are here to help.

"When you consider what happened today even if we, as individuals, can't contribute particularly much to make pain which occurred in Paris go away at the very least we can show solidarity," Farrick said. 

Farrick and another student took a trip to the store and picked up all of the spray paint used to paint the rock.

Other students came to express opinions about the day's tragedy and to help out with the painting.

"We all have feelings in some type of way, we might not speak the same, but we all have feelings," said music performance freshman Shaylana Boyce-Motley.

Boyce-Motley said she showed up to the rock with her friends after reading about the set up on Yik Yak.

"The whole Paris situation really pisses me off so I figured this is a good way to get some energy out in a healthy way," undecided freshman Tatiana Walters said.

Walters said what struck her about the situation was the senseless attack on innocent citizens.

"It could easily have been any of us," Farrick said. 

Farrick said when East Lansing is busy and excited for the football game he hopes people will glance at the Rock and keep the people Paris in the back of their minds.

"Even if it couldn't have been us, it's still somebody and those lives matter and those lives are just as valuable as anybody else's regardless if it's in Paris or any other part of the world," he said.