Today is the 12th annual The Big Event at Chadron State College, a day of community service by all parts of the campus community from 9-till-noon.
Graduate student Kinsey Smith has been heading up the program this year and says it really is a “big event,” with hundreds of volunteers heading out to dozens of work sites around the Chadron area to help bridge the gap between campus and community.
Smith thinks the chance to say “Thank You” in a tangible way to Chadron and its people means a lot to CSC students, faculty, and staff alike, adding that The Big Event is as important to the campus now as it was when it first came to Chadron State in 2012.
Smith has been part of the organizing and leadership group for The Big Event all 5 of her years at Chadron State, so she’s never had the chance to be a worksite volunteer.
That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have strong memories of each year from helping confirm worksites and from working with the hundreds of volunteers.
The number of Chadron State students, faculty, and staff volunteering for The Big Event peaked in its early years at over 700, but has consistently been around 400 since then.
On the other hand, the number of businesses, churches, organizations, and private homes signing up as jobsite shows that the Chadron Community has also taken The Big Event to heart.
The first The Big Event was held at Texas A&M University in 1982 when a handful of students decided they wanted to give back to the community. They made it an annual thing and the idea caught on at other schools across the country and internationally.
It’s now the largest, one-day, student-run service program in the nation with more than 125 colleges and universities hosting The Big Event,
CSC INTERVIEW WITH KINSEY SMITH