From the Tyler ISD Foundation:

The Tyler ISD Foundation may be a small entity, but it is being considered for some huge honors in national education public relations.  Six different programs are being considered by the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) at their annual convention in San Diego for awards of distinction.

“Most public relations programs that receive notice are from mega-sized school districts with thousands of students and hundreds of millions of dollars in budgets,” said Larry Goddard of the Tyler ISD Foundation, “but thanks to our board directors, our donors, our District, and partnerships with good friends like the Junior League of Tyler, Inc., we are in consideration on the same level as much, much larger institutions.”

The six programs are:

Eight student leaders who participated in The University of Texas at Tyler’s Patriot Leadership Academy were recognized at the 2013 Student Leadership and Service Awards Banquet, Ona Tolliver, assistant vice president and dean of students, announced.

The UT Tyler Patriot Leadership Academy is a semester-long certificate program organized by the Patriot Leadership Team, a group of UT Tyler undergraduate and graduate students who plan leadership and service opportunities for the entire UT Tyler student body.

This year’s academy program included “Team Building & Leadership Styles,” “Strengths Quest,” “Diversity,” “Civility,” “Leadership Branding” and “Embracing Chance and Confusion.”

Academy members are listed by hometown.

ARLINGTON – Colleen McDermott.

GREENVILLE – Christina Gibson.

TYLER – Amanda Ritchie, Jeremy Gray and Stephanie Long.

MISSISSIPPI – Kyle ‘Alex’ Fleming.

OHIO – Don Baird.

OKLAHOMA – Alicia Allbaugh.