CHADRON – Chadron State College’s 11th annual The Big Event (TBE) will take place April 15, according to TBE Graduate Assistant Kinsey Smith of Windsor, Colorado. The event will be from 9 a.m. to noon, originating on campus and then fanning out in the community.

Jobsite Assistant Kamilla Montenegro of Las Vegas said The Big Event is a student-led day of community service when CSC students, faculty, and staff volunteer at job sites in Chadron.

“It's a whole day dedicated to connecting the college with the community to demonstrate our gratitude for the people and the community of Chadron,” Montenegro said.

Online registration for job site applications opened March 1 and will close March 31. Volunteer registration also opened March 1 and will close April 7.

The Big Event typically has 400 volunteers that serve at about 50 job sites.

“We respond to jobsite applications on a first-come, first-serve basis. It's a fairly simple application process. We just ask for a description of the help and number of volunteers needed,” Smith said. “We're really excited for another big event this year and making it bigger every year. If you just want a little bit of help that day, it's our way to say, ‘thank you’ to the community.”

The teams can help at public parks or clean, sort, paint, or organize inside public businesses, museums, or buildings that house non-profit organizations.

“TBE volunteers are not allowed to enter private residences, use power tools or climb on ladders, for safety reasons. Anybody who wants us to paint fences, rake leaves, pick up branches or trash, we're looking for jobs like that,” Smith said.

The event originated in Texas.

“In 1982, at Texas A&M University, a couple of students decided they wanted to give back to the community and they made it an annual thing. Then it spread across the country and even internationally. Today, more than 125 colleges and universities around the world host The Big Event,” Montenegro said.

Four CSC students attend Omaha advertising conference

CHADRON – Four Chadron State College students and Professor Mary Donahue attended Meet the Pros, a conference presented by the American Advertising Federation Nebraska (AAF Nebraska), in Omaha Feb. 28-March 1.

They students are Allison Acosta, Sidney Brown, Sam Rozmiarek, and Abigail Swanson who attended sessions designed to inform and inspire students seeking careers in advertising, marketing, communications, and visual arts.

The conference featured 20 professionals who spoke individually or in panel discussions, as well as opportunities for students to interact with peers and professionals.

Acosta was impressed with keynote speaker Desmond LaVelle of Chicago.

“LaVelle related how to get a job and the different kinds of jobs in graphic design,” Acosta said. “The biggest insight he shared was providing an overall knowledge of potential job positions and tips on how to get them.”

Brown participated in the conference’s first Creative Bootcamp, a challenge for students to work with peers from other schools to create and present a marketing plan for an Omaha coffee shop.

“The Creative Bootcamp was a great lesson in how differing personalities can create an effective team,” Brown said. “I was primarily challenged by the 45-minute time constraint, as I felt I could do a lot more with more time.”

The conference closed by giving students a chance to meet professionals, ask questions and have their portfolios reviewed, or participate in mock interviews.

Rozmiarek said her biggest takeaway from the conference was a design tip Steve Gordon, a creative operating his own design company, RDQLUS, shared about reducing an image to just a few color pixels, and using a client’s mood board images to create a design color palette for their brand.

She also shared how the conference impacted her view of her career.

“The conference definitely encouraged me to look more into marketing and business as future job options,” Ro said.

Brown mentioned the business focus of the conference surprised her.

“There is far more business management tied into creative work than I imagined. This gave me a concept of which direction I would like to take my art,” she said.

Acosta highlighted the encouraging atmosphere of the conference toward young professionals breaking in.

“It was nice seeing a bunch of other people at the conference going through the same thing I am. Knowing they were also looking for tips and information for the future was reassuring,” she said.