| Wednesday, November 17,
2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Mark Moravits |
Renata Hays |
Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Recognizes The Big
Event
NORMAN, Okla. – The Big Event, OU’s official
day of community service, has been chosen for the Team
Builder’s Award for Environmental Improvement
by Keep Oklahoma Beautiful, a statewide non-profit organization
that promotes individual and group efforts in the areas
of beautification, enhancement and preservation of Oklahoma's
environment.
“This award came as a complete and total surprise
to us,” said Mark Moravits, chairman of The Big
Event. “Who would have ever thought that a bunch
of college students could get together to do something
like this?”
The Big Event will be honored at a formal dinner banquet
on Thursday evening at Reed Conference Center in Midwest
City awards banquet. More than 500 people from around
the state will be in attendance.
At the banquet, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful will announce
the winner of the Outstanding Achievement award. The
Big Event is also a finalist for this award.
A panel of out-of-state judges selected this year’s
award winners. Becky Durrett, coordinator for the Oklahoma
City Adopt-A-Street Program, nominated The Big Event
for the award.
“OU's BIG EVENT is not just about what it does
for the community, but the life-changing impact on the
students who participate in the event,” Durrett
said. “Through the giving up of a college student's
Saturday to sleep in, study, go home or sit and watch
TV, the student prioritizes this day of community service
and possibly remembers it for a lifetime as an important
part of what they ought to do all their adult life.”
The Big Event began at Texas A&M University in
1982 and has since spread to 60 university campuses
across the country, making The Big Event the largest
student-run community service effort in the nation.
This year at OU alone, almost 6,000 students, faculty
and staff are expected to participate in the event,
which will take place on April 2.
“The Big Event has left a lasting impression
on our campus and in our community and this award is
proof of that,” Moravits said.
For more information about The Big Event, visit http://bigevent.ou.edu.
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