From its beginnings on the Texas A&M University campus, The Big Event has grown to 72 other universities across the nation. It was 1982 when the Vice President of the Student Government Association wanted a way to say thank you to the community of College Station. This March 26 will mark the 29th year Texas A&M students will canvas the community doing service projects to unite the campus with the greater community.

Over a thousand students at A&M have signed up to participate in service projects for a wide range of organizations. Other campuses across the nation will organize similar events in their community. As the notion of the service event spread, the Student Government Association at Texas A&M began hosting an annual Big Event Conference in 2006 to help other schools organize events in their communities.

If you’re a college student and your school doesn’t host a big event, you can get a Big Event packet at http://bigevent.tamu.edu/expansion to assist you with all you need to know to make it happen in your community. If you’re a volunteer at a nonprofit organization, contact your local university to see if students will help your organization during their Big Event.

With thousands of students throughout the country learning to give back to their communities, this small idea back in 1982 has made a big impact on the students, the campuses and community organizations they support.