Jacob Tritz, president of MSU Young Americans for Freedom and a senior studying games and interactive media, paints the Rock alongside other members of MSU Young Americans for Freedom and MSU College Republicans during preparations for a 9/11 memorial at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. The organizations placed 2,977 American flags around the Rock, one for each victim killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks.