During the month of  April students get a chance to give back to the community with the Big Event and Relay for Life.

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The Big Event is scheduled for Saturday, April 5, and Relay for Life will be held April 11 into April 12.

During the Big Event, sponsored by Community Action Project, students across the country give back through different service activities.

This year 1,700 students will volunteer in the Hamden and New Haven areas for the Big Event, surpassing CAP’s goal of 1,500 volunteers, Vice President of Publicity for the Big Event Julianna Besharat said.

“The Big Event is growing in popularity,” Besharat said. “This year is the largest number of volunteers we have seen. We believe that this increase is in part due to this year’s largest freshman class at QU as well as increased awareness around campus.”

Relay for Life is a 12-hour event where students fight back against cancer by celebrating those who have won their battle with cancer and remembering those that have lost.

More than 500 people have already signed up for the event, Katherine Winkle, co-chair for Relay for Life, said. Winkle hopes to have 1,000 students participate.

Because both events are within a week, some students said they will have to choose an event to go to instead of participating in both.

“Students aren’t going to want to take up two weekends, unless both events affect them in one way or another,” freshman Samantha Edwards said.

Sophomore Meghan Reilly said she is participating in both events.

“[I] am aware they are a week apart,” Reilly said. “They are two different events and students have the opportunity to do both.”

Both the Big Event and Relay for Life representatives said they did not plan to have the events six days apart.

“Those are two different worlds that are occurring a week apart so I don’t think there is a conflict there,” said Stefano Fasulo, associate director of student center and campus life.

The representatives said they hope students will have the time and a willing attitude to participate in both events.

“We hope that student involvement will not be impacted,” Winkle said. “However, both of these organizations are ‘paying it forward’ and giving back to the community in all aspects of these events.”

Next year the Relay for Life committee plans to hold the event on the Quad in the fall to try to avoid this conflict.

“We are looking forward to our upcoming changes in hopes that more people will become involved,” Winkle said. “We always have wanted to have an outdoor event and the fall works out best for the university.”

There is a small window of time in April due to the Easter holiday weekend, so when the executive boards of each event were given the dates available they made the best of them.

“I think it’s a fun-filled April,” senior Caroline Cadigan said. “Quinnipiac has enough students willing to participate in both events.”

Junior Cole Gallagher will volunteer at both the Big Event and Relay for Life.

“I think that Quinnipiac students are ready to give and nothing’s going to get in the way,” Gallagher said.

If Relay for Life’s goal of reaching 1,000 participants is met, the events in April will bring out almost 3,000 students to give back to the community.