MISSOULA — The University of Montana was recently ranked the number one school for community and public service for the third time.
Griz students lived up to that title by hosting a day of service on Saturday, May 3, giving up some weekend free time to give back.
"We really want to cultivate a great environment here and this just does that," sophomore student and UM Advocates member Isabel Beasley told MTN.
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Across the nation, The Big Event is getting college students to volunteer for a day, all to better their college and community. At UM, it's no different.
"We have about 10-ish different groups right now, kind of all around campus, all around the community helping out," freshman student and UM Advocates member Camille Wagner said.
Students gathered at Mount Sentinel's M Trailhead, pulling weeds to beautify the space.
"Making it look nicer and better for everyone when they come and hike," Wagner shared.
Wagner notes that the M Trail is constantly used and needs a little love from helping hands.
"I think it's just really nice to be able to have a space where people can be for free and all have a great time," Wagner said.
Across the Oval, in the ethnobotany garden, Beasley and a group of other volunteers spruced up the area for the native plants.
"I learned so much just doing this today," Beasley said. "I walk through this garden every day, you know, and it's really cool that I was actually able to have a helping hand in cultivating it and keeping for future students to come."
For both students, being a Griz means getting involved.
"I want to be able to be a part of a university that actually values community service and values, you know, having their students engage in that early on," Beasley told MTN.
A goal for the students is to give back to the school they love as often as possible.
"I've gotten to see all these amazing opportunities to meet all these amazing people and so I just, I want to be able to like do for them what they've done for me," Wagner explained.
For next year's Big Event, Beasley hopes volunteer numbers grow.
"I think this should be even bigger and better next year. If we can have more of the community and even more campus involvement, it would be awesome." Beasley said.
After all the hard work, the Weary Travelers Music Festival gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy campus one more time before the semester ends.
" A big volunteer shindig music and everything, so that's kind of a way to celebrate everything we've done today and I'm excited that we get, you know, have a great event that is both volunteering and fun," Wagner said.
