Glen Ellyn Elementary District 89’s special-needs students, upon seeing their ordinary classrooms transformed into brightly colored, fun-packed spaces, became overwhelmed with emotion.
Their eyes whizzed from one discovery to the next, and there were several: A shaggy electric-blue rug, a curtain of fiber optic lights and dozens of glossy picture books.
Fifth-grader Wyatt Salek, who has Angelman syndrome, couldn’t contain his excitement.
“Even though he communicates with an iPad, he just kept grabbing each volunteer and taking them with him to different parts of the classroom, and signing to them to show how much he loved everything,” said his mother, Theresa Salek.
About 50 volunteers from Vivint, a Smart Home technology firm based in Utah, remodeled, repainted and refurnished two classrooms in Glen Crest Middle School and one in Park View Elementary School. They threw a “reveal” party Oct. 14, when they surprised the special-needs students, their families and school staff with the classroom makeovers.
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At Glen Crest, one of the two remodeled classrooms is the assisted instruction classroom, which services sixth through eighth graders with intellectual disabilities. Students who use the classroom are taught the necessary skills for living as independent adults, as they’ll often stay in high school until they’re 22 years old, said classroom teacher Julie Ramirez.
The classroom is therefore equipped with a kitchen, washer and dryer. Vivint volunteers, however, provided enhanced flooring, shiny new desks, a laptop station and a full-set dining table. The classroom usually services between four and 12 kids, Ramirez said.
The other made-over classroom is a new sensory room, which is quiet and coolly lit. A bean bag chair, plush rugs and oversized stuffed animals cater to students who need help regulating their bodies, Ramirez said. Students can use the room when they feel agitated, and then, after brief respite, return to their regular classrooms, Ramirez said.
She said she hopes the classroom will also be used for occupational therapy, music therapy and small group activities.
Vivint’s “Vivint Gives Back” program chose three Chicago area schools for makeovers. The third school that received a transformed classroom was Eisenhower Junior High School in Darien.
The Vivint volunteers traveled across the country to put the surprise together, and raised nearly $80,000 for the Chicago area projects, according to a news release. Vivint partnered with the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics, a local Chicago non-profit of which Salek is a member. The organization aims to support special-needs families with smart home technology and sensory room installations.
The two groups connected in 2011, when FAST won $250,000 for clinical trial research through a Facebook contest hosted by Vivint, said Paula Evans, FAST chairwoman.
The volunteers began working on the classrooms while the kids were off school for Columbus Day. That night, the volunteers hosted a meet-and-greet at a Naperville play center to meet the families of the children, Evans said. The next day, a Tuesday, students were off again for a teacher training day, and on Wednesday, the volunteers organized a field trip for the children to the DuPage Children’s Museum, so that the volunteers could prepare for the big reveal that evening.
“These volunteers didn’t just come in and change the classroom,” Evans said. “They really came in to get to know these kids and change their lives, and have an impact on the families.”
Twitter: @marwaeltagouri