$75,000 Home Depot Retool Your School Grant Funds Modern Collaboration and Wellness Space

Alabama A&M University students now have a modern, welcoming place to collaborate, study and recharge with the opening of the new Student Innovation Lounge on the second floor of the Joseph F. Drake Memorial Learning Resources Center.

University officials celebrated the new space with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 10, 2025. The Innovation Lounge was made possible through a $75,000 campus improvement grant awarded to AAMU by The Home Depot Retool Your School program, which has invested more than $12.1 million in sustainable improvements at historically Black colleges and universities since 2009.

Unlike previous years when grants were determined by online and social media voting, universities were required to submit competitive applications in 2025. Alabama A&M was selected for its proposal to create a student-focused Innovation Lounge designed to meet academic, collaborative and wellness needs.

The award continues Alabama A&M’s strong track record in The Home Depot Retool Your School program. The University secured first-place $75,000 campus improvement grants in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, as The Home Depot expanded the program to offer more resources to competing HBCUs, AAMU earned a first-place grant totaling $150,000 in campus improvements. In 2024, the University added a $100,000 campus improvement grant, marking four consecutive Retool Your School wins for Alabama A&M.

“This isn’t your traditional library space,” said Shatika Armstrong, executive assistant to Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Dr. Braque Talley. “This is designed to give students another space to hang out, socialize, get their work done and unwind. There’s no whispering here like in a traditional library. Students can collaborate.”

Armstrong led the project in collaboration with Veronica Henderson, director of the Joseph F. Drake Memorial Learning Resources Center and the State Black Archives Research Center and Museum. The initiative brought together Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Academic Affairs and library leadership in a shared effort to enhance the student experience.

The renovation included removing carpet and installing new vinyl flooring, adding modern brick wallpaper and outfitting the space with new furniture provided through the Home Depot grant. The lounge features charging towers, which are being connected to allow students to charge phones and laptops, along with multiple TV monitors positioned throughout the area. 

Five study rooms, each designed to accommodate six or more students, include fresh paint, tables and monitors to support group work and presentations. Those upgrades were funded by a Title III grant. Students also have access to a virtual reality room and a podcast room, with VR equipment available upon sign-in.

The Innovation Lounge also includes a Zen room designed to promote relaxation and mental wellness. The scented space features an iPad that allows users to select music or stream content, along with yoga mats and a comfortable chair that provides students with a place to decompress between classes or study sessions.

Alabama A&M also offers three Zen rooms with massage chairs for faculty and staff across campus, including one in the library and additional spaces in the Health and Counseling Center and the Knight Center. The wellness spaces are part of a collaboration with Dr. Tonya Davis, associate professor and chair of AAMU's Department of Psychology and Counseling. Reservations, check-ins and check-outs can be made by clicking the “Save Your Seat” image.

Freshman psychology major Ariana Green of Atlanta and sophomore graphic design major Alex Burgess of Nashville, Tennessee, were among several students enjoying the lounge while relaxing and studying together in the new space.

“I come here every day,” Green said. “It does feel like I’m at home. I normally hang out in my living room, and I like that I can do that here. I don’t have to worry about sitting up in chairs and hurting my back. I can relax and still get my work done.”

“I actually find it very comforting,” Burgess said. “We came and sat over here first because it’s so comfortable. The colors of the couches, the pillows — everything feels very homey and cozy.”