LRC News Release

Tyler Gates

Lenoir-Rhyne Student Receives Award

Tyler Gates, a junior at Lenoir-Rhyne College, recently received the inaugural North Carolina Campus Compact Community Impact Student Award. This award will be presented each year to students who have made significant, innovative contributions to campus-based efforts to address community needs. Gates was one of 21 college students from across North Carolina to be recognized.

Gates, who is from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., leads the Lenoir-Rhyne College Campus Crusade for Christ and serves on the Executive Council in his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi.

Last year, he was the chapter chair of the fund-raising efforts for PUSH America, a philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi that raises awareness and funds to help persons with disabilities. Under his leadership, the chapter, which had 11 members at the time, raised $8,000 for the organization. Gates said the primary fundraising event was a golf tournament. He was able to obtain corporate sponsorships as well as participation by alumni and community members. The golf tournament raised $5,000 of the total. The fraternity also held “No Boundaries Week” on campus to promote awareness of persons with disabilities and raise money.

In addition, the Lenoir-Rhyne fraternity held its annual “Run to Charlotte” to raise additional funds. They obtained sponsors for the run, during which fraternity members took turns running approximately 70 miles to deliver their contribution to the fraternity’s national headquarters in Charlotte. For their efforts, the L-R chapter received the fraternity’s Altruist Award, representing the most money raised per fraternity member.

The L-R chapter also participated in PUSH America by building wheelchair ramps for local families in need and helping with construction projects at a camp for children with disabilities. Other community-service projects of the fraternity included helping a family move from one home to another, and helping to paint a school. “It is one of the most important things about being in the fraternity — giving back to the community,” Gates said.

He is double majoring in corporate communications, and family and youth ministry while holding a 3.8 grade point average. He plans to spend next summer in Costa Rica studying Spanish. After graduation, he said he would like to become a missionary in a Spanish-speaking country. Gates is currently an intern at Christ United Methodist Church of Hickory.

North Carolina Campus Compact is a growing statewide coalition of college and university presidents and chancellors in North Carolina established to encourage and support campus engagement in the community. For more information about Campus Compact, contact Juliet Burras at (336) 278-7278.