Since 2011, Southeastern has made a spot on the President’s Higher Education Honor Roll for Community Service, now holding the title for four consecutive years.  

Sophomore Quintele Jackson (above) of NSCS picks up
trash and leaves as part of the Big Event 2014. Over 600
Southeastern students registered to participate in
various service activities across the campus as well as
in the community.  The Lion’s Roar /  File Photo

According to the nationalservice.gov website, this award “highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community challenges as a result, more students are likely to pursue a lifelong path of civic engagement that achieves meaningful and measurable outcomes in the communities they serve.” 

One community service project Southeastern has been participating in for these past four years is the Big Event.

The Big Event began in April 2011 when 300 participants signed up to help the Hammond community. The amount of volunteers doubled in March of 2014.

“It is a day set aside for any student, faculty or staff member to give back to Hammond and its surrounding areas,” said senior marketing major Taylor Petit. “It is the best way that we can show our appreciation for the community that we call home during our time at Southeastern. There aren’t many opportunities set aside for an entire university population to come together for one reason, and the Big Event allows for that opportunity at Southeastern.”

Though the Big Event had over 600 volunteers, it was still a disappointment from the previous year when over 800 people participated.

“If you look at it as a whole, the entire event went smoothly,” said senior sports management major and co-director for the Big Event 2015, Ivy Gonzales. “It was just a matter of the participation of the student body. If you look at the year prior to it, we had about 400 more students that were involved with the Big Event and it’s a little disappointing because it was our fourth year doing it. Receiving the honor award for Higher education, with being better the year before, we kind of slacked off on it.”

Rain was one of the problems with lack of participation in 2014. The inclement weather caused one of the larger projects of the Big Event to be canceled. 

“The job that we had was in Zemurray Park,” said senior communication major and Big Event 2015 co-director Zachary Whitehead. “We were going to go and repaint many of the pavilions and the dugouts. Just within that, that was a 300 student job. After that [the rain], all we could do was clean up over there.”

The date for Big Event 2015 has already been set. The forecast does not call for rain, but the co-directors have already made a plan of action if inclement weather causes issues once more. 

“I think we also have alternate sets,” said Whitehead. “That is one of the things that we wanted to fix. If there was inclement weather, we wanted to have an alternate date to be made.”

Though 2014 caused issues for the Big Event, some still believe that the Big Event has shown continual improvement over the years.  

“I think it went well considering the issues we had with the weather,” said Petit. “Most of our job sites were outside jobs and the rain prohibited us from completing those. There are always hiccups, but I think the Big Event has consistently improved through the years.”

The 2015 Big Event is scheduled to take place March 15 and applications can be found on the Southeastern page. 

Getting involved in the Big Event is a way to show that Southeastern is worthy of having the President’s Higher Education Honor Roll for Community Service award.

“I think it is a really big honor to receive this award,” said Whitehead. “I think it should drive Southeastern to do a little more for their community.  The Big Event itself is a big thank you. The more students that we have being a part of it, the more it sounds like we are saying a bigger thank you to Hammond for allowing us to be here. I think anyone and everyone, whether or not you’re here five days a week, six days a week living hear or you commute, you are a part of this school, you are a part of this Southeastern family.  To me, it’s the right thing to do, to give one day back to this community.”