The Big Event shows students’ support of community

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The day was warm and sunny at most times, when Chadron State students and faculty set out to make a difference in the Chadron community Saturday. While some volunteers worked at one job site, others were able to finish jobs in good time and move on to help with other projects. This was the case with the volunteers that helped hang the net batting cage at Chadron’s baseball fields, located just off Main Street.

The most notable fact about Chadron’s The Big Event was that most of the volunteers were not forced to be there, and gave up part of their sunny Saturday afternoon willingly. And even though some of the work was hard, there were smiles on the students’ faces as they worked together.

Most of the students that volunteered for The Big Event have been living in Chadron for less than four years. They are part of communities at home, yet they were all willing to contribute their time and energy to a community that is hosting them temporarily. This speaks volumes about the character of students at Chadron State. It is inspiring to see so many students interested in being involved with something like The Big Event. There were groups of students who spent the whole day working together.

“I worked with members of the fraternity on campus—Omega Phi Rho,” Kodiak French, 20, sophomore of Wright, Wyoming, said. “We first helped the owner of Outlaw Printers with cleaning out a lot of scrap wood he had, and hauled it to the dump. Then we went to the baseball fields north of town and set up a baseball net for the batting cages with various other people.

“For the most part our group cooperated very well together,” French said. “It took us roughly two to three hours to complete all of the services we did.”

The students that volunteered for The Big Event have the right idea. They realize that they are just a small piece of a big picture, and the improvement of the big picture comes one helping hand at a time. Kudos to those who signed up, showed up, and spent a beautiful day contributing to the Chadron Community. The work you did will not go unnoticed or unappreciated.