UA student wins service awards

Barrett Lyle didn't know he had won until a photographer called and asked when he could have his picture taken.

"I still haven't heard anything about it from them," he said.

Lyle, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, applied for two awards through the National Society of Collegiate Scholars a year ago.

The awards are the Scholar of Promise Award and the President's Volunteer Service Award.

The Scholar of Promise Award is given to eligible students who have completed at least 50 hours of volunteer work. The President's Volunteer Service Award, which was started by President George W. Bush, is given to students who have completed at least 100 hours of volunteer work.

Mishri Someshwar from NSCS said Lyle's involvement with Alabama Action and Black Belt Action, both of which are coordinated by the University, helped his application stand out.

"He has been very involved in analyzing what factors cause disparities in Alabama," she said.

Lyle is also involved in several honors societies and the Elliot Society.

Lyle is from a suburb in Atlanta, and said the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, scholarship opportunities and the honors program at the Capstone lured him to Alabama.

He applied for Alabama Action, a service-learning opportunity for incoming honors students the week before the fall semester, to meet fellow freshmen.

"I first got involved with Alabama Action just for the opportunity to meet people who were coming to the University, and to get better connected," he said. "The experience I got out of it was much more beneficial to that."

During the week of Alabama Action, students work on projects in local elementary schools and spend classroom time and lunch with elementary students, as well as attending morning lectures on economic and educational gaps in Alabama.

"There were two kids that I got to know very well," Lyle said. "By the end of the week, we really got along. I like having the opportunity to help people less fortunate than myself."

His experience with Alabama Action encouraged him to get involved with Black Belt Action, Lyle said.

"It allows one-on-one activity with the people you're helping," he said. "We go to the black belt region of Alabama. We toured an under-funded elementary school, and I got to spend some class time with students."

Lyle said if he wants to make money with his philosophy degree, he will like to go to law school after graduation.

"I'll probably practice law, be a criminal defense attorney - a high-paid one, hopefully," he said.

This summer, Lyle is starting an internship in Washington, D.C., with the White House Committee on Remembrance.

"It's non-partisan, which is why I chose it above the others I was offered," he said. "I didn't want to get involved in cut-throat Washington politics."

"I'll be helping families who have lost loved ones in Iraq," he said. "It's a service-oriented thing, which appealed to me. I didn't want to be getting coffee for some senator whose views I don't even agree with."

"This is more productive for people in a more emotional sense, I guess in a more personal sense," he said.