TAMIU, City Join for Saturday's 'The Big Event' in South Laredo

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) and the City of Laredo are joining forces again this  Saturday, March 24  to present The Big Event, the University’s annual service event, projected to see 300-plus student volunteers provide community service.

TAMIU students, faculty and staff will gather at 8 a.m. at the Freddy Benavides Park, 2201 Zacatecas Street.  Their service will continue through 12 noon.

The partnership with the City is part of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that enables and provides resource support for sweeping student-powered community engagement initiatives like the Big Event.

 “The Big Event, first offered at TAMIU in 2009, 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 Colonia Guadalupe, Slaughter Park, neighborhood cleanup at Eistetter Park and services to Districts II and III,” said Mayra Hernández, director of the University’s Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement.

Hernández’ office organizes The Big Event in partnership with the Student Government Association.   The Big Event at TAMIU dates back to 2009.  It has become the University’s largest service initiative and one of its most popular student traditions.

The Big Event began at Texas A&M University in College Station in 1982,  and 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 The Big Event gives  students a chance to give back to the community they call home.

“It’s an exciting opportunity.  TAMIU students are eager to ‘pay it forward’ -- to become effective leaders, responsible constituents and serve their community.  They believe it is a shared obligation to give back to a community that has given them so much,” she concluded.

TAMIU students’ remarkable level of community engagement service, estimated to have generated more than $4 million in economic impact and  more than 220,000 total service hours since 2010, has twice earned the Presidential Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll Award for exemplary community service programs and partnerships. 

Visit a dedicated site documenting The Big Event at TAMIU through the years at  http://www.tamiu.edu/scce/tbe.shtml

Watch a video of last year’s The Big Event at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LDdQD1vPIQ

For additional information, contact  the Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement at 956.326.2265, email scce@tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Student Center, Suite 226.