Aggies will venture into the community this weekend to serve residents of the Bryan-College Station area as a part of the largest one-day student-run service project, The Big Event.
The Big Event will send students off campus for four hours Saturday to assist local residents with work around their homes. This year, 22,517 students have signed up in advance to volunteer and 2,403 residents, not including those who are on a waitlist, are registered.
During the opening ceremony — which will feature a keynote address by Mays Business School lecturer Henry Musoma and musical acts “Radical Something” and DJ Mike — various sponsors and vendors will give away free food. Vendors include Starbucks, Pepsi, Slovacek Sausage, Red Bull, Kind Snack and Hooked.
William Stacy, programs executive for The Big Event and finance junior, said he likes having the chance to interact with members of the Bryan-College Station community.
“Big Event is about bringing together two groups of people who live in the same place but don’t have much in common besides that,” Stacy said. “It allows us [students] to really get to know our neighbors. I think that is a really important part of the college experience.”
Mark Lutz, director of The Big Event, said the participation has grown so big that the morning kickoff has caused large amounts of traffic. This year’s kickoff will be held at Kyle Field’s Zone Plaza to alleviate traffic that caused some students to wait hours before they arrived or left from Research Park last year.
“We heard the stress that all the traffic caused last year and we heard the student body express that so we are excited to be in a new location,” Lutz said. “We think this one will be perfect, and we have been working with all the different services across campus and we think things will run really smoothly.”
Dalton Harris, outreach executive for The Big Event and computer science junior, said The Big Event is his favorite A&M tradition because it is a time for Aggies to embody their core values.
“There really is no better way for us as Aggies to embody the Aggie core value of selfless service,” Harris said. “It’s really just us giving up one Saturday to go out and selflessly serve the residents that support us throughout the course of the year.”
Stacy said students who have not already signed up to be a part of The Big Event should come out and serve the community.
“I think showing up to support our community and to really say ‘thank you’ is a huge part of being an Aggie,” Stacy said. “I would encourage anyone who hasn’t already signed up and who has the availability, to show up on April 2 and serve our community.”
This year’s kickoff ceremony and check-in will be held in Kyle Field’s Zone Plaza. Check-in will be held from 8-9 a.m. and kickoff will begin at 9:10 a.m. Tool distribution will start at 9:35 a.m. Students who have not pre-registered may sign up on the day of The Big Event.