Texas A&M University School of Law students, faculty and staff and their families participated in The Big Event. This group, only a part of the Law School contingent, cleaned up Fort Worth's Trinity Park.

On a rainy Saturday in late March, 118 Texas A&M Law School volunteers, including students, faculty, staff, and their family members, participated in the Big Event. This marked the law school’s second year participating in this Aggie tradition.

“It was great to see so many students and their family members show up to give back to the community,” said Madison Easterlin, a first-year law student.

Several faculty members also participated in this event. The students were especially grateful for their support. “Shout out to Professor [John] Murphy, Professor [Mark] Burge, Professor [Meg] Penrose, and Professor [Neil] Sobol,” said Easterlin.

Professor Murphy expressed that he was very proud of his group and their hard work.

To assist the volunteers, local companies donated their services. “We are also incredibly grateful for the donations we received. Brewed donated coffee for all of the participants; Bottlecap Alley Icehouse Grill donated lunch for the participants,” said Easterlin.

The Big Event incorporated various jobsites across Fort Worth. Volunteers picked up trash at City of Fort Worth's Trinity Park North and South, Tillery Park, and Forest Park. Volunteers also planted trees and shrubs and helped with the aesthetics at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and Rolling Hills Tree Farm. Others helped with graffiti abatement for the city.

Participants distributed food and participated in community outreach at Unity Park. Others volunteered at the 23rd Annual AIDS Walk & Fun Run benefiting the AIDS Outreach Center of Tarrant County. Some law students also completed pro bono service with Catholic Charities and Opening Doors for Women in Need.

“It was amazing to see so many students, professors, AND their families come out early on their day off and lend a hand to the community. Even the bad weather didn't scare them away and I feel that says a lot about our school,” said Danielle Bonanno, a third-year law student who is the director of the law school Big Event and Student Bar Association (SBA) philanthropy chair.

Law students selected projects that would not only allow each of them to give back to the community through legal aid, but also projects that would allow family members to participate in this event.

“We wanted to make sure that we included projects that would not limit who could participate and would provide everyone with an opportunity to come together to thank Fort Worth for its continued support for the school,” said Easterlin.

Students collectively saw this as a great opportunity for participants to demonstrate that Texas A&M Law students are valuable, hard-working, appreciative members of the community.

About The Big Event

The Big Event is an Aggie tradition. The largest one-day, student-run service project in the nation started at the College Station campus 33 years ago with six Aggie undergraduate students. This year’s event includes over 22,000 volunteers around the world. Exemplifying the Aggie core value of selfless service, it provides students and families with the opportunity to give back to the community in order to thank them for their support of the school.

The Big Event is organized and run by students. The success of this year's event was due to the hard work of the Texas A&M Law Big Event committee:

Danielle Bonanno - Director
Lauren Slaton - Assistant Director
Rose Richerson
Madison Easterlin
Andy Duane
Christian Holden

See all the photos from the Law School Big Event in our Facebook album.

 - Article by Tyra Kelly. Contributors: Kirsten Evans and Danielle Bonanno. Photos by Doug Thurman.