This fall, greater than 70,000 college students have poured into School Station, Texas, to kick off a brand new faculty 12 months at Texas A&M College. And each spring, these college students give again to the group via The Large Occasion—the most important one-day, school scholar–run service venture within the nation.
In line with Director Reed McReynolds, a junior at Texas A&M, The Large Occasion is a thank-you to the communities of School Station and neighboring Bryan.
“We take up their roads, we take up their eating places, we make a whole lot of visitors and congestion… [so] it’s a very cool approach for us to bridge that hole and put a reputation to a face,” he says. “Sure, we’re school college students, and we do take up a whole lot of this metropolis. However we’re right here to give again, and we do need to have real relationships… so it’s a very great way for the college to companion with the group.”
Since The Large Occasion was based in 1982 by Joe Nussbaum, the service venture has expanded to 130 occasions across the nation as college students at different universities and excessive faculties have adopted Texas A&M’s blueprint. Right here’s a better take a look at those that have began these nationwide Large Occasions (and how one can observe of their footsteps):
For greater than 40 years, The Large Occasion has united the coed physique and allowed them to attach with full-time residents of Bryan and School Station. The volunteer day embodies all six Aggie core values, nevertheless it’s selfless service that takes middle stage. With instruments in hand, college students go away campus and do all forms of jobs—comparable to yard work, window washing, cleansing and portray—for each residential and nonprofit property house owners locally who want a serving to hand.
Though the tangible advantages of property repairs are simple, McReynolds says that one of many “coolest issues” about The Large Occasion is the connection school college students make with residents. “Individuals who go and volunteer at these homes.… They make pals with these folks,” he says. “Then folks request [those same students] the following 12 months to come back again.”
To take part, residents file requests for assist and scholar volunteers via The Large Occasion web site. They’re then contacted by a workers assistant, who visits the property to satisfy the proprietor, doc the scope of the job and decide the forms of instruments that will likely be wanted. In 2025, 17,118 college students served 2,374 residents.
It’s straightforward to get caught up within the numbers and the magnitude of the occasion, however selfless service really shines within the private interactions this occasion results in, leaving a long-lasting affect on residents and college students alike.
As an example, Affiliate Director Leila Chang, a senior at Texas A&M, says she bonded with a resident two years in the past who she nonetheless retains in contact with right this moment. Chang visited the resident the day earlier than The Large Occasion to ensure all the pieces was prepared for volunteers, and so they ended up chatting for greater than an hour about vegetation and the house owner’s cat.
“I ended up… attending to know her and pay attention[ed] to her story,” Chang says. “She confirmed me a whole lot of photos of her and her household, and I ended up cat-sitting for her that subsequent month…. It’s these little issues that basically have that affect on the group, and so I’m grateful for that have.”
Mike Hays, a counselor in Texas’ Northwest Impartial College District and a 1996 graduate of Texas A&M, introduced The Large Occasion to Northwest Excessive College in 2013. He says that at the moment, there was a push for service management in public faculty programs, and he knew {that a} volunteer program based mostly on The Large Occasion would offer that sort of expertise for college kids.
“The unity and being like-minded on a venture that large is absolutely cool,” he says, “[and] that’s one thing that additionally moved me, so I wished to carry it to the youngsters.”
In line with Hays, NHS’ first Large Occasion drew greater than 1,000 scholar volunteers, and so they accomplished 30 initiatives, the majority of which have been for aged residents who wanted assist with yard work and cleansing up their properties.
His eldest daughter, Abby Richardson, who volunteered on the Northwest occasion as a younger woman, was impressed as a young person to begin The Large Occasion at her highschool, and later on the school she attended. “Once I first heard about The Large Occasion, even at 11, I used to be instantly obsessive about it and liked the concept of going out and serving the group,” she says.
Richardson says that her foremost aim when planning every occasion was to concentrate on the folks they served. “We wished the folks we have been serving to suppose, ‘Wow, we will’t consider these children simply did that,’” she says. “One 12 months, we moved a ship out of somebody’s yard, and the youngsters pulled weeds and took out brush. It appeared like an entire completely different yard once we have been performed.” She additionally recollects celebrating a resident’s 99th birthday whereas on-site to wash up her yard. “She had on a sash and tiara,” she provides, “and she or he was simply so completely satisfied… to have all these college students in her house.”
In line with Richardson, “anyone could make a Large Occasion occur. Should you’re excited and passionate concerning the work that’s being performed, you are able to do it. There are sources on the market. Discover somebody ready of authority [if you’re a student], or in the event you’re ready of authority, discover a scholar and work out how one can make it occur collectively.”
Richardson hopes to in the future discovered her third Large Occasion at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, the place she serves as assistant director of occasions.
Chang says that the assorted Large Occasions held throughout the nation are distinctive and aren’t regulated or managed by Texas A&M. As an alternative, they’re impressed by A&M’s effort and are united by the One Large Thanks Convention, which is held yearly to encourage and practice college students to guide occasions at their respective campuses.
Whereas The Large Occasion originated as a student-led venture, there’s no purpose a company or enterprise couldn’t lead the same venture of their respective communities, utilizing A&M’s template. Should you’re wanting to take action, McReynolds suggests beginning small and taking the time to get to know these you’ll be serving to.
“Focus deeply on the connection earlier than you do the service,” he says. “If you can begin with 5 – 6 houses and actually get to know [the] folks in these houses, then that’s the way you get traction and actually begin to construct one thing that’s actually significant.”
Matt Anderson, school and first adviser for The Large Occasion, provides that if it’s tough to search out residents or particular properties to serve, it’s best to attain out to local people facilities or nonprofit organizations for help. “They actually recognize that assist, in addition to the residents,” he says.
Listed below are another tricks to get you began:
- Get the assist of group leaders.
- Publicize the occasion to recruit volunteers and safe donations.
- Begin accumulating instruments early.
- Organize transportation for folks and instruments to job websites.
McReynolds says that his objectives for A&M’s 2026 occasion embrace gathering 1,000–2,000 extra volunteers and partnering with 500–1,000 extra residents. He and Chang are additionally working to spice up inner relations amongst their crew.
“We need to be certain everybody is understood and seen and looks like they’ve an element and might be taught from The Large Occasion,” McReynolds says.
“It’s been cool to see how one man’s imaginative and prescient to serve the group has changed into a long-lasting legacy on the Texas A&M campus,” he continues, “the place we get to stay out one among our core values of selfless service.”
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