Alexis Major

Hometown: Columbia, South Carolina

Major: Criminal justice

Year: Freshman

“I was in Columbia. My homegirl, she was here and she didn’t know about it. We’d seen it on the news, so I told my homegirl to go outside, but she was too scared to go outside.”

Em Gordon

Hometown: Winston Salem, North Carolina

Major: Art history

Year: Sophomore

“I was in my dorm, just chilling. My mom texted me, ‘Did you hear it was shot down in Myrtle Beach?’ It was funny watching the news go down about it and people posting on Instagram about it. Conway was the talk of the town.”

Jen Fiengo

Hometown: North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Major: Marketing and management

Year: Sophomore

“I was at work in Coastal Grand Mall and it shook the mall really bad with the noise it made. The power went out for a few minutes, but it was actually really cool.”

Carly Gustafson

Hometown: Las Vegas, Nevada

Major: Biology

Year: Sophomore

“I was sleeping. I woke up and everyone’s stories were videos of the spy balloon being shot down.”

Omar Miles

Hometown: Florence, South Carolina

Major: Computer science

Year: Sophomore

“I saw that white balloon and I thought it was a white balloon for those fraternities or sororities. I didn’t realize it was a Chinese spy balloon. Because I did not know the Chinese make balloons to spy on us. Why would they spy on us?”

James Hernandez

Hometown: Montvale, New Jersey

Major: Marketing

Year: Freshman

“I was at my dorm and my buddy was like ‘Come outside look at the sky!’ My dorm is Chanticleer dorm so I just went outside and looked up and there it was.”