Help Mowrey Elementary library win a $40K makeover
A Waynesboro Area School District library is in the running for a $40,000 makeover, and local residents can help make it happen.
Jennifer Smith, librarian at Mowrey Elementary School, is a finalist in the second annual furniture giveaway and learning space design competition sponsored by KI, a manufacturer of furniture and wall systems for education, healthcare, government and corporate markets.
As of Monday night, Mowrey was in first place in online voting at ki.com/designtowin. Voting continues through Wednesday, Jan. 31, and the winner will be announced Friday, Feb. 2.
What’s behind the local contest entry?
Smith, who also is a librarian at Hooverville Elementary, is going for a coffeehouse feel in the Mowrey library that serves 550 children, 10% of them autistic or life skills students.
The libraries at Hooverville and Fairview elementaries have already been redone by the WASD, and Mowrey is next on the list. Kevin Moore of Corbett Inc., the company that renovated Fairview, suggested Smith enter the KI contest.
KI received hundreds of entries in four categories: Eastern, Central, Western and Libraries. Three finalists were selected in each category and Mowrey is up against libraries in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Snow Hill, Md.
The winners will get $40,000 worth of KI furniture of their choosing to turn their dream learning space into a reality. The runners-up will each receive 30 Ruckus whiteboards.
Smith entered the contest just before Christmas. Her design, using KI's free Classroom Planner tool, took just 25 minutes to create because she knew what she wanted.
Entries also included a questionnaire on objectives the design achieves, how the design reflects the educator's teaching philosophy and culture, and how it meets students' learning and developmental needs, according to a KI news release.
Smith learned she was a finalist in early January and quickly had to make a video explaining her vision for the library.
Students have been voting on their Chromebooks and members of the community can add their support “because the students at Mowrey are deserving of a creative place for learning,” Smith said.
How does the design help students learn?
Part of her design for the library is free-flowing and flexible, so students can cuddle up with a good book on soft furniture. It includes tabletops of varying heights, wobble seating for kids who like to fidget and “imaginasium” blocks — stiff, easy-to-clean foam blocks youngsters can arrange and use in multiple ways.
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“It provides learners with a choice on how they sit, making them more comfortable and more likely to be engaged in the lesson,” Smith, who is in her fifth year as a librarian after 20 years as a classroom teacher, wrote in her application.
“Learners have expressed feeling more productive when they are in a relaxed position. A lot of people do not do their best work sitting or hunched over a desk and this space is going to provide the learners with multiple choices as to how they will feel most comfortable working,” the application said.
The space can be easily reconfigured with uses including small group work, independent work, reading and students and staff working together.
Another part of the room is a fixed area for whole groups instruction, small group research projects and meeting space for staff.
This article originally appeared on Waynesboro Record Herald: Waynesboro’s Mowrey Elementary library could win KI furniture giveway
