On Saturday March 29th, California, PA was overwhelmed with a sense of purpose. Nearly 400 Pennwest California students participated in The Big Event, a community service project aimed at taking care of community members and cleaning up campus and the surrounding areas. 

37 student clubs, organisations and sports teams joined together for the benefit of others, and by the end of the event, California looked refreshed and ready for spring.

Students were assigned to thirty sites across town, tasked with yardwork, painting, cleaning trash, and leveling ground. 

The event served not only as a service project, but a chance to make connections, as many clubs worked together with students they hadn’t previously crossed paths with, and students were introduced to other community members through their work.

Site 12 featured Engineering Tech as well as the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association. 

NSSLHA president Izabella DeGlopper led her club through tasks ranging from mulching, weeding, and cleaning windows. 

She noted that the event was important to the club, and she was grateful for the opportunity to get involved in the community.

“We came out to support other people,” DeGlopper explained. “Our future profession is all about helping people, so being able to give back to the community in this way was an amazing opportunity.”

It was apparent that the rest of the participants shared similar sentiments.

The event was a success, bringing together the California community in more ways than one. Through an early morning service event, and lunch as a community, The Big Event served the community, but also the students as well, giving everyone the mid-semester pick-me-up they didn’t know they needed.