Classroom furniture giveaway for California K-12

By Albert Fulcher

In January, Loma Verde Elementary School’s sixth-grade dual language immersion teacher Teresa Youssofi in Chula Vista, was one of 12 finalists in a national classroom furniture giveaway from furniture maker KI. Youssofi was one of the four winners, selected from hundreds of teachers who submitted designs for their dream classroom or library. She won out in a poll where more than 62,000 voters narrowed down the winners. Youssofi was awarded $40,000 worth of furniture to bring her dream to life.

KI’s 3rd classroom furniture contest is about to begin. Like last year’s contest, four winners will each be awarded $40,000-worth of KI furniture of their choosing to turn their design into reality. Three winners will receive a makeover for their classroom, lab, or makerspace, and one will receive a school library or media center makeover. Submissions will open October 1 and close October 25. After finalists are announced, a public vote will determine the winners.

Entrants will submit a design rendering of the space, created using KI’s website, and a questionnaire on the goals for the space, their teaching philosophy and culture, and how their design would meet students’ needs.

KI’s Vice President of Education Markets Bryan Ballegeer said KI is a contract furniture operator with most of its product and sales focused on education based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He said the classroom giveaway competition is a national promotion, giving away four learning environments each year.

“Last year, Ms. Youssofi was a grand prize winner,” he said. “The reason the competition exists is because myself and my team from KI come from being in the education fields. We are not sales and marketing trained professionals. I spent nearly as a facility and operations manager for a school district in New York. The head of marketing on my team spent two decades as a principal in school systems around North Carolina. We have two higher education professionals that spent a combined 30 years in teaching and learning at higher institutes of learning, having walked the walk as teachers and administrators for decades. One thing we see in our industry and education overall, is teachers not always getting their voices heard.”

Ballegeer said with this competition, they want to empower teachers and students to design the classroom of their dreams.

“Teachers know what their school community, their kids, what they need best to activate the learning they are seeking to do. We want to put them in the driver’s seat. They are not very often in the driver’s seat of their space and the things around them. They just have to react,” he said.

Ballegeer said any teacher in the country can go to KI.com, use the design tool on its website to design the classroom of their dreams using its products.

“They can color it, paint in there, put rugs in there, and fill out their space to bring out the most in their desire to help their students on their learning journeys,” he said. “They submit that design along with a brief application on why and what this space would do for their students and their community. Based on those submissions, the KI Education Team and outside advisors will narrow it down to a list of finals, and the finalists will go out for a public vote. Whichever teachers get the most votes are the grand prize winners and they will get the classroom of their dreams that they designed. It is totally free of charge and installed into their space.”

Ballegeer said finalist that are not grand prize winners also get prizes. He said Youssofi was one of seven teachers who have won since they started this competition two years ago. This year’s winners will be announced in mid-November.

“There is one winner for each KI region,” he said. “One winner from the East Coast, one winner from the Mid-West, one winner from the West Coast, and one national winner for libraries.

“So, librarians can also submit the library of their dreams,” he said.

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