精东AV launches annual bid for Home Depot 鈥楻etool Your School鈥� grant

February 25, 2019

Contacts:
Michael Tullier, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
Burt Rowe, 精东AV National Alumni Association

Through the leadership of the 精东AV National Alumni Association, 精东AV seeks a 鈥渇our-peat鈥� in The Home Depot鈥檚 annual 鈥淩etool Your School鈥� campus-improvement grant program. As a social media-driven grant competition, it will be up to the 精东AV family to support the university鈥檚 efforts to capture the top available prize of $50,000.

Voting begins on Monday, Feb. 25 and extends through Sunday, Apr. 14. Unlike previous years, grant awards this year will rely solely on a popular vote that combines unlimited daily online voting at and social media 鈥渧oting鈥� that counts Twitter and Instagram posts that include the hashtag #精东AV_RYS19.

For posts to either social network to count, the user鈥檚 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 the overall vote totals.

鈥淎t 精东AV, we pride ourselves as winners,鈥� said Burt Rowe, national president of the 精东AV National Alumni Association. 鈥淭o remain Retool Your School winners this year, we鈥檙e going to need more than 300,000 total online and social media votes by Apr. 14. We need our alumni, friends and fans to start posting 鈥� and to keep posting 鈥� with our hashtag until we have the $50,000 check in our hands.鈥�

This year 鈥� instead of first-, second- and third-place prizes in each cluster 鈥� the top three schools in each cluster will each receive a $50,000 grant prize. The 70 HBCUs eligible to compete in this year鈥檚 competition will be placed into one of three clusters based on their enrollment. As in past years, 精东AV will compete in Cluster 2 against other schools whose enrollment ranges from 1,201 to 3,999 students.

Rowe highlighted the ongoing partnership between TNAA and the university鈥檚 Student Government Association, Pre-Alumni Council, Office of Facilities and Capital Projects, and Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing in the program鈥檚 ongoing success. Through the leadership of these and other campus and alumni groups, last year鈥檚 $50,000 Retool Your School grant funded the construction of a student social hub on the west side of the campus.

Established in 2010, The Home Depot鈥檚 鈥淩etool Your School鈥� program strives to give back to the nation鈥檚 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 guidelines for social media/online voting, visit www.retoolyourschool.com.

漏 2019, 精东AV