It’s TAMIU’s ‘Big Event’ This Saturday
Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) and the City of Laredo will join this Saturday to present The Big Event, the University’s annual service event including over 300 student volunteers.
Earlier this week, TAMIU signed an historic Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City to enable sweeping student-powered community engagement initiatives, like the Big Event. Partners in that agreement are the City of Laredo Community Development, Keep Laredo Beautiful, NeighborWorks Laredo and the Laredo Housing Authority.
This year’s The Big Event will see students provide volunteer services to the Colonia Guadalupe area from 8 a.m. – 12 noon.
“The Big Event, first offered at TAMIU in 2010, is our largest student engagement event, involving in excess of 300 student volunteers, all joining hands and hearts to work together to address a pressing community need. We previously partnered with the City on Big Event efforts focused on Slaughter Park, neighborhood cleanup at Eistetter Park and services to Districts II and III,” said Mayra Hernandez, director of the University’s office of Student Engagement and Community Relations.
The Big Event, which began at Texas A&M University in College Station in 1982, has since been adopted by dozens of universities, serving communities across the nation. It has also become a global phenomenon with events in Germany, Italy, Pakistan and Spain, among others.
Hernández said after previous successful Big Event pairings with the City, the University was excited to formally partner with the City of Laredo.
“It’s an exciting, historic opportunity. TAMIU students are eager to ‘pay it forward’ -- to become effective leaders, responsible constituents and serve their community. Many feel it is a shared obligation to give back to a community that has given them so much,” Hernández concluded.
TAMIU students’ remarkable level of community engagement service, estimated to have generated more than a $3,274,148.00 in economic impact since 2010, has been recognized twice with the Presidential Honor Roll Award for exemplary community service programs.
For more information, contact Hernández at TAMIU at 956.326.2288 or mghernandez@tamiu.edu or visit offices in Student Center 226D