This fall, greater than 70,000 college students have poured into School Station, Texas, to kick off a brand new college yr at Texas A&M College. And each spring, these college students give again to the neighborhood by The Massive Occasion—the most important one-day, school scholar–run service challenge within the nation.
In response to Director Reed McReynolds, a junior at Texas A&M, The Massive 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 number of visitors and congestion… [so] it’s a very cool means 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 number 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 accomplice with the neighborhood.”
Since The Massive Occasion was based in 1982 by Joe Nussbaum, the service challenge has expanded to 130 occasions across the nation as college students at different universities and excessive colleges have adopted Texas A&M’s blueprint. Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at those that have began these nationwide Massive Occasions (and how one can observe of their footsteps):
For greater than 40 years, The Massive Occasion has united the scholar physique and allowed them to attach with full-time residents of Bryan and School Station. The volunteer day embodies all six Aggie core values, however it’s selfless service that takes heart stage. With instruments in hand, college students depart campus and do all kinds of jobs—equivalent to yard work, window washing, cleansing and portray—for each residential and nonprofit property homeowners in the neighborhood who want a serving to hand.
Though the tangible advantages of property maintenance are plain, McReynolds says that one of many “coolest issues” about The Massive Occasion is the connection school college students make with residents. “Individuals who go and volunteer at these homes.… They make pals with these individuals,” he says. “Then individuals request [those same students] the subsequent yr to return again.”
To take part, residents file requests for assist and scholar volunteers by The Massive 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 kinds of instruments that shall be wanted. In 2025, 17,118 college students served 2,374 residents.
It’s simple to get caught up within the numbers and the magnitude of the occasion, however selfless service actually shines within the private interactions this occasion results in, leaving an enduring influence on residents and college students alike.
As an illustration, 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 at present. Chang visited the resident the day earlier than The Massive Occasion to verify all the pieces was prepared for volunteers, and so they ended up chatting for greater than an hour about crops and the home-owner’s cat.
“I ended up… attending to know her and pay attention[ed] to her story,” Chang says. “She confirmed me a number of footage of her and her household, and I ended up cat-sitting for her that subsequent month…. It’s these little issues that actually have that influence on the neighborhood, 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 Massive Occasion to Northwest Excessive College in 2013. He says that at the moment, there was a push for service management in public college techniques, and he knew {that a} volunteer program primarily based on The Massive Occasion would supply that sort of expertise for college students.
“The unity and being like-minded on a challenge that huge is actually cool,” he says, “[and] that’s one thing that additionally moved me, so I wished to convey it to the youngsters.”
In response to Hays, NHS’ first Massive Occasion drew greater than 1,000 scholar volunteers, and so they accomplished 30 tasks, 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 lady, was impressed as a youngster to begin The Massive Occasion at her highschool, and later on the school she attended. “Once I first heard about The Massive Occasion, even at 11, I used to be instantly obsessive about it and liked the concept of going out and serving the neighborhood,” she says.
Richardson says that her primary aim when planning every occasion was to give attention to the individuals they served. “We wished the individuals we have been serving to suppose, ‘Wow, we will’t consider these youngsters simply did that,’” she says. “One yr, we moved a ship out of somebody’s yard, and the youngsters pulled weeds and took out brush. It seemed like a complete completely different yard after we have been carried out.” She additionally remembers celebrating a resident’s 99th birthday whereas on-site to wash up her yard. “She had on a sash and tiara,” she provides, “and he or she was simply so blissful… to have all these college students in her residence.”
In response to Richardson, “anyone could make a Massive Occasion occur. If you happen to’re excited and passionate in regards to the work that’s being carried out, you are able to do it. There are assets on the market. Discover somebody able of authority [if you’re a student], or if you happen to’re able of authority, discover a scholar and determine how one can make it occur collectively.”
Richardson hopes to someday discovered her third Massive Occasion at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, the place she serves as assistant director of occasions.
Chang says that the varied Massive Occasions held throughout the nation are distinctive and aren’t regulated or managed by Texas A&M. As a substitute, they’re impressed by A&M’s effort and are united by the One Massive Thanks Convention, which is held yearly to encourage and practice college students to steer occasions at their respective campuses.
Whereas The Massive Occasion originated as a student-led challenge, there’s no purpose a company or enterprise couldn’t lead the same challenge of their respective communities, utilizing A&M’s template. If you happen to’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 properties and actually get to know [the] individuals in these properties, then that’s the way you get traction and actually begin to construct one thing that’s actually significant.”
Matt Anderson, college and first adviser for The Massive Occasion, provides that if it’s troublesome 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 admire that assist, in addition to the residents,” he says.
Listed below are another tricks to get you began:
- Get the help of neighborhood leaders.
- Publicize the occasion to recruit volunteers and safe donations.
- Begin accumulating instruments early.
- Prepare transportation for individuals 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 inside relations amongst their staff.
“We need to make certain everybody is thought and seen and seems like they’ve a component and may be taught from The Massive Occasion,” McReynolds says.
“It’s been cool to see how one man’s imaginative and prescient to serve the neighborhood has became an enduring legacy on the Texas A&M campus,” he continues, “the place we get to dwell out considered one of our core values of selfless service.”
Photograph by Hannah Busing/Unsplash.com
