By Kawana McGough
Tuskegee National Alumni Association (TNAA) leaders are calling on the university’s faithful alumni, students, staff, faculty, and friends to help it return to the winner’s circle and claim the $75,000 cash prize — in this year’s annual “Retool Your School” campus-improvement grant program. The social media-driven grant competition, sponsored by Home Depot Inc., relies on a combination of online voting and social media posting to determine its winners.
The 70 HBCUs eligible to compete in this year’s competition will be placed into one of three clusters based on their enrollment. As in past years, Tuskegee will compete in Cluster 2 against other schools whose enrollment ranges from 1,201 to 3,999 students.
Voting begins on Monday, February 28, and extends through Sunday, March 27. Grants are awarded based on a total popular vote that combines unlimited daily online voting at www.retoolyourschool.com/vote and social media “voting” that counts on Twitter and Instagram posts that include the hashtag #RYSTUSKEGEE.
For posts to either social network to count, the user’s account must be public; however, there is no limit to the number of times the hashtag can be used in a day. Only one use of the hashtag per post will count toward overall vote totals.
“At Tuskegee, we pride ourselves as winners,” said Lillie Lanier, national president of the Tuskegee National Alumni Association. “In 2021, we won the $50,000 grant in cluster #2. The money was used to upgrade bathrooms in Bethune and Tantum Hall dormitories. Burt Rowe, administrator of the Tuskegee “Retool Your School” program, said, “this was possible because the university’s students, alumni, staff, faculty, and friends delivered a remarkable 587,380 total votes during the 2021 contest. We need our alumni, campus family, friends, and fans to start posting on February 28 — and to keep posting on TWITTER and Instagram with our hashtag (#RYSTUSKEGEE) until we have the $75,000 check in our hands.” See pictures of past winning projects below.
TNAA volunteers have formed a voting alliance with Southern University and A&M College (Cluster 1). Tuskegee University social media posters should include their hashtag #RYSSUBR along with # RYSTUSKEGEE, which will increase the total social media vote counts for both HBCU’s without jeopardizing Tuskegee’s standing in Cluster 2. A similar alliance in Cluster #3 will be announced before February 28, 2022.
Rowe highlighted TNAA’s ongoing partnership with the university’s Student Government Association, Pre-Alumni Council, Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs, Office of Facilities and Capital Projects, and Office of Communications, Public Relations, and Marketing as part of past successes. “We want to encourage the Tuskegee family, students, faculty staff, alumni, and friends to participate in making this endeavor successful as we are “One Tuskegee,” said Kymberly Holland, Coordinator of Alumni Affairs and Reunion Programs.
Established in 2010, The Home Depot’s “Retool Your School” program strives to give back to the nation’s HBCUs that have generously provided their communities with a strong foundation, a renewed purpose, and a distinctive character. For more information about the program, including contest rules and social media/online voting guidelines, visit www.retoolyourschool.com.
