What is The Big Event?
Through service-oriented activities, The Big Event promotes campus and community unity as students come together for one day to express their gratitude for the support from the surrounding community.
Since its introduction in 1982, The Big Event has become the largest, one-day, student-run service project in the nation. Each spring, tens of thousands of Texas A&M students come together to say “Thank You” to the residents of Bryan and College Station. For the past 40 years, Aggie students have participated in this annual event to show their appreciation to the surrounding community, completing service projects such as yard work, window washing, and painting for residents of the community. Although The Big Event has become the largest one-day, student-run service project in the nation, our message and our mission remains the same – to simply say “Thank You.”
History of The Big Event
In 1982, Joe Nussbaum, then Vice President of the Student Government Association at Texas A&M University, started The Big Event as a way for students to say “Thank You” to the surrounding community. Nussbaum envisioned a one-day service project where residents of Bryan and College Station would be shown appreciation for their continued support of Texas A&M University students during their college careers. Mr. Nussbaum viewed The Big Event as a means for students to show their gratitude by completing various tasks at area residents’ homes. Joe believed that it was the least the students could do to give one big thanks to their community on One Big Day each year.
1982
Our founder, Joe Nussbaum, asked students at Texas A&M to join him in cleaning cemeteries and 1 house in the College Station-Bryan area to give back to the community.
1990
We expanded for the first time beyond Bryan-College Station, Texas, to other schools across the country! Today, we have expanded to OU, Virginia Tech, University of Florida, Kansas University and 116 other schools!
2006
The purpose of the One Big Thanks Conference is to bring together Big Event organizations across the country. It gives each school an opportunity to grow while collaborating with different ideas and processes to better the community.
2010
President George H.W. Bush attended The Big Event kick-off ceremony and addressed the students, thanking them for their work done in the community. He also chose to honor Big Event with the Points of Light Award because of our history of service.
2014
With the help of students who were studying abroad, The Big Event went worldwide. Students who were a part of the College of Architecture’s study abroad program assisted in conducting a Big Event in Spain, Italy and Germany.
2016
The Big Event broke records by having 22,176 student volunteers serving the community. Since then, this momentum has continued to encourage tens of thousands of volunteers to give back to our community and its residents each year!
2020
2020 was a difficult year for everyone, including The Big Event. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Big Event. Director Josh John and everyone involved knew that, though tradition is a core value, so is the concern for the safety of the Bryan-College Station community. Director of Student Activities, Christine Gravelle, was positive it would return in 2021, and it did!
2022
Celebrating 40 years, The Big Event came back and better than ever with 13,281 student volunteers serving 1,935 residents! Thank you to everyone who was a part of the BIG 40!
The Big Event Constitution & Bylaws
The Big Event follows all areas of the document in accordance.
Read Our Constitution and Bylaws