Texas A&M University was buzzing Thursday as workers began cordoning off roads and areas of campus in anticipation of President Barack Obama's visit on Friday.
He will speak, along with President George H.W. Bush and nonprofit leaders, at Rudder Auditorium as part of the Presidential Forum on Service, a celebration of Bush and Obama's separate volunteering initiatives and the growth of the community service movement in the United States over the past two decades.
The event is hosted by the Points of Light Institute, which was formed in 1990 as a response to Bush's call for service.
Dozens of university employees, Points of Light workers and federal government staff were on campus Thursday preparing for the event. Areas were cordoned off for more than 1,000 protesters who are expected to come to campus for the event.
Rudder Auditorium seats about 2,500, and most of those seats will be filled by people invited by the Points of Light Institute. About 600 tickets for the event were distributed by A&M to students, faculty and staff.
But the event will affect the whole campus. No classes have been canceled; however, Throckmorton, Lewis, Coke and Houston streets will be closed and students have been warned to make extra time to get to class.
Officials from A&M and the White House were tight-lipped Thursday about Obama's plans in College Station.
He is expected to fly Air Force One from San Francisco to Houston and arrive at the Bush International Airport around 3 p.m. He will then ride the Marine One helicopter from Houston to College Station.
John Happ, director at College Station's Easterwood Airport, said Thursday that Air Force One is too big to land in College Station without risking damage to the airport's runway.
"It is purely the weight of the aircraft and the turning radius -- it is too wide," Happ said, explaining that it would likely be able to land but would have difficulty turning. "They just decided that it would be best to have it land in Houston."
Obama is expected to speak for about 20 minutes around 4 p.m. White House officials refused to release any more details about his schedule or say whether he had any plans for other meetings or events in College Station.
His plane is scheduled to take off from Houston some time after 6 p.m., according to a press advisory, and he will return to Washington.
It will be the second time in less than a year that a sitting president speaks at A&M and the fourth time a former president will be on campus in recent months. President George W. Bush gave a commencement address in December. Bill Clinton spoke at a campaign event for his wife, Hillary, in March 2008, and the elder Bush often speaks at his presidential library on campus.
"It is a tremendous honor to have the sitting president of the United States on the Texas A&M campus for the second time in less than a year," said A&M President Bowen Loftin. "This speaks volumes to our status as one of the top universities in the country and the long legacy of Aggies' selfless service for our country."
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