Last fall, students and faculty at Drake State Community and Technical College grabbed paint brushes and hammers alongside local Home Depot associates. They had one goal in mind – beautifying the campus.
The project was a part of the 2014 Retool Your School program, an effort that supports improvement projects at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) across the country.
Drake State, a 2014 Retool Your School grant recipient, focused campus renovations on gazebos for students and faculty. The enrollment of underclassmen has increased in recent years, and according to President McAlpine, that transition has placed a larger emphasis on campus areas dedicated to a college lifestyle.
“We’re a commuter college with an increasingly younger student body,” said McAlpine. “When these younger students come to our college, they’re expecting a place to hang out and study around campus. Through the Retool Your School program, we were able to give them areas on campus to experience college life.”
This year, The Home Depot’s 5th Annual Retool Your School program will award a total of $255,000 in grants to nine accredited HBCUs in $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 grant denominations. Online voting for Retool Your School grants is open February 27 – April 20, 2015. For more information on the program and to vote for this year’s grant recipient, visit www.retoolyourschool.com.
