Seeing a large portion of the student body and faculty all come together in service is something so inspiring and moving, and that’s exactly what happens every year during The Big Event here at The University of Oklahoma. Student organizations work throughout the Norman, Moore, and Oklahoma City communities at different job sites and make huge differences for everyone involved. I served on Operations Staff for The Big Event and I was in charge of going to a select number of sites across the community and evaluating what their needs were for “The Big Day”. Seeing the people in charge of the sites being so gracious and thankful for our help was beyond humbling and makes you think of the impact you can make in your community. On the actual day of The Big Event, all of the students participating meet up on the North Oval and take part in the opening ceremonies, with appearances from President Boren and Clarke Stroud, two of campus’ biggest celebs. After words of encouragement from them and a small speech from the Big Event chair, this year senior Ben Laptad, all of the students head out to their respective job sites with the hope to make the best change they can in the community. From my behind the scenes perspective on Ops Staff, it was so awesome to see all of the volunteers go off in the morning and come back at the end of the day with smiles on their faces and full hearts from making such an impact in their communities. I actually got to visit and volunteer at a job site during the day, which isn’t always the case for someone on Ops Staff, and it was so humbling to have the owner of the day care I was working at come outside and gasp at the progress we had made in just 2 short hours. Moments like that are what make The Big Event so special to this campus and it is a huge part of what makes The University of Oklahoma “live on” and become a true home to all of its students and staff.

Tyler Block

Sophomore, Human Relations

Hometown: Shawnee, Oklahoma