UL’s 10th Big Event to take place March 25

The Big Event is taking place March 25 and focuses on giving back to the community of Lafayette. 

Brooke Davenport, the executive director of The Big Event, shared the event’s mission. 

“The Big Event is one big day on campus where all students, different organizations and faculty members can come together to improve the Lafayette community,” Davenport said. “It’s our way to give back in any way we can.”

The Big Event focuses on community service projects around Lafayette. Davenport explained the impact of service is much greater with more people involved, and that the event has been spreading to other campuses.

According to the Office of First-Year Experience’s website, “Participation has grown to 12,500 students completing more than 1,200 jobs in the communities of Bryan and College Station. Presently, over 80 Big Events occur at universities across the nation.”

Davenport described how Lafayette has supported the university, and how The Big Event is a way to return the favor. 

“Lafayette in general has done so much for us as students, especially letting us have our campus here, that it’s our way to kind of give back,” Davenport said.

Students were able to register online through a form, which has now closed. Students could register as an individual or as a group of people in a “flock.” If any students are still interested in participating in The Big Event, they can direct message @ulbigevent on Instagram to get in contact with someone.

The Big Event’s mascot is the flamingo, hence the service groups being flocks. The mascot also ties into the awards being given out: the golden flamingos.  Past awards included: the fraternity or sorority that had the largest amount of student volunteers, the flock with the most creative flock name and the student organization that had the largest amount of student volunteers.

Davenport shared that there will be more than just service projects at The Big Event for students and other participants to enjoy.

“We’ll have food, we’ll have music and we have guest speakers. We try to make it as fun as possible,” Davenport said. 

Check-in for The Big Event will start at 7:00 a.m. in front of Martin Hall. The opening ceremony will begin at 8:00 a.m. Around 9:15 a.m., the groups should set out to their assigned service projects.