UW Students to Perform Community Service Oct. 1

The University of Wyoming will kick off Homecoming week by hosting the fourth annual The Big Event service day to the community Saturday, Oct. 1. The event is free and open to the public.

UW’s Service, Leadership and Community Engagement (SLCE) office sponsors The Big Event. More than 700 students participated in approximately 100 locations throughout the Laramie community last year. Jobs included raking, painting, window washing, yard work and other projects.

“The Big Event has become a wonderful tradition for our UW students, and I’m so proud of their service to the Laramie community,” UW President Laurie Nichols says. “The relationship between the university and the broader community is so important, and the success of The Big Event illustrates the strength of that bond.”

The Big Event promotes campus and community unity as UW students come together through service-oriented activities to express their gratitude for the surrounding community.

“Throughout the years, the community of Laramie has shown endless support to the students of UW. The Big Event’s goal is to reciprocate that appreciation to residents,” says Sagan Hunsaker, project coordinator. “This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to the greater Laramie community for its endless support of the University of Wyoming.”

Hunsaker says 672 UW students have signed up for this weekend’s The Big Event and will assist on 157 projects.

“Even though preregistrations are now closed, we anticipate even more students signing up Saturday,” she says.

After The Big Event, Laramie Main Street will provide food, drinks and live music to celebrate the community. The free public event is from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the First Street Plaza, located on Grand Avenue from First to Second streets.

The Big Event is recognized as one of the nation’s largest student-run service days. It originated at Texas A&M University in 1982 and has expanded to 95 other schools across the nation as well as schools in Spain, Australia, Italy and Germany.

For more information, visit www.uwyo.edu/bigevent, like the Wyoming Union on Facebook, or follow SLCE on Twitter and Instagram @SLCE_UW.

To receive future SLCE service and program opportunities, email slcemktg@uwyo.edu or call (307) 766-3117.