BUCCANEER BIG EVENT CONNECTS BLINN STUDENTS TO THE COMMUNITY

  

Forty-five Blinn College students complete a variety of service projects as part of the Buccaneer Big Event on Saturday, April 23.

The community service event, formerly known as the Blinn Blitz, included five service projects in and around Brenham and was spearheaded by students enrolled in the Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Blinn-Brenham.

Students cleaned up yards and one group cleaned up a house that a local church is turning into a safe house.

“One of the students told me he didn’t feel all that connected to the community before this service project,” said Ashley Hermes, student success coach. “After the service opportunity, that student felt like he made a difference and now feels more engaged.”

The volunteers teamed up to tackle projects that would take homeowners and lone volunteers much longer to complete.

“Everybody seemed to have a great time working while listening to music and working together as a team,” said Haley Ferguson, president and marketing chair of the Buccaneer Big Event. “I think every volunteer learned that it isn’t always about yourself and that they really helped people out.”

A sophomore, Ferguson plans on attending Texas A&M University in the fall to study computer engineering with a concentration in computer science.

The Texas A&M Engineering Academy (TEAM) at Blinn-Brenham is offered in partnership with Texas A&M University’s Dwight Look College of Engineering. Academy students participate in a living and learning community in which they live together in the Blinn College Park Apartments and take their first-year math, science and engineering courses together. Texas A&M engineering courses are taught on the Blinn-Brenham campus by Texas A&M faculty.