Jackson School TikTok Team Shares Student Life

November 28, 2022

Screenshots from Jackson School TikTok posts. 

In spring 2022, the Jackson School of Geosciences started a TikTok account to help share the student experience, with most posts produced directly by five students on a dedicated TikTok team.

The students are undergraduates Arushi Biswas, Atticus Cabrales, Eleanor Cote and Eden Lagnado, as well as master’s student Aya Bangun.

From dances to how-to videos, TikTok is a platform known for its creative expression, said the Jackson School’s assistant director of communications, Monica Kortsha, who manages the school’s social media accounts and the TikTok team. She said that students have done a great job tapping into their creativity to make informative, funny and engaging posts.

“Each member of the team has their own style of posting and their own experience to share,” Kortsha said. “I think TikTok is a great way to humanize and demystify the geosciences, especially for a younger generation.”

The videos have been viewed thousands of times so far. They include “day in the life” montages of summer internships and classes, views from the field; skits about taking tests and registering for classes; and popular TikTok trends with a geosciences spin.

“I really like how creative we get to be,” said Biswas. “We have all sorts of videos from educational to silly. We have lots of different ways of reaching an audience interested in geosciences.”

Cabrales said he likes sending his Jackson School posts directly to his friends so they can learn more about the geosciences and see what he’s studying. For Lagnado, she said that she enjoys having a platform to show the array of topics and experiences that the geosciences encompass.

“I like being part of a science communication community and breaking stereotypes about what geology and geosciences are” she said.

Follow the Jackson School on TikTok at @txgeosciences.