Somerville Interior Solutions Firm Participating in Active Learning Center Grant Run by Steelcase Education

(Somerville, NJ – August 21, 2017) The Steelcase Education Active Learning Center Grant creates effective, rewarding, and inspiring learning environments across North American secondary and higher education institutions. In 2017, the grant’s third year, Toms River High School North in New Jersey is 1 out of 15 recipients selected from over 950 applications, and the only school awarded in the Tri-State region. dancker, the leading interior solutions provider and four-time Steelcase Premier Partner, will help remodel a classroom into an interactive, literary maker-space for sophomore and junior English classes.

The Active Learning Center Grant is an awards program in which each recipient will receive one of four classroom types designed by Steelcase and valued at $65,000. Since it launched in 2014, the grant has provided educators with smarter, active learning spaces across North America.

“Research shows that space impacts behavior, and the classrooms we design utilize this idea to help new groups of teachers and students explore the learning possibilities interactive spaces can bring,” says Craig Wilson, Steelcase Education Director of Market Development, who leads the ALC Grant program.

At Toms River North, the new room will function as a model classroom for the school district and will engage students and teachers alike. Flexible furniture options from Steelcase foster both independent study and collaboration; sit/stand desks, rolling white boards, specialized seat configurations, and integrated technology, collectively support differentiated activities for a variety of learning models. The room also aligns with professional training in “Learner-Active, Technology-Infused Classrooms”, or LATIC, initiated by Norma DeNoia, the Director of Secondary Curriculum at Toms River North.

“In addition to improving student effectiveness, one of the main goals of the project is to bring state-of-the-art learning environments to our local community and to renew a love of teaching for the educators,” says Steven Lang, president and CEO at dancker.

As the participating Steelcase partner for the project, dancker will work specify, order, and install the furniture for the new classroom design, which will officially open on August 14th, 2017. Dancker will later, in conjunction with Steelcase, train school faculty on the use of the furniture and technology and check in on the progress of all initiatives.

The Active Learning Center Grant is available to all institutions grade 6 through 12 and colleges/universities that focus primarily on instructor-led learning in a designated classroom. Applications for next year’s grant will be on the Steelcase website at the beginning of 2018.

A summary of 2017 Steelcase Education Active Learning Center Grant recipients is as follows:

Appalachian State University: Boone, NC
Baylor School: Chattanooga, TN
Cal Poly Pomona: Pomona, CA
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: Prescott, AZ
Mount Desert Island High School: Bar Harbor, ME
Nebraska Methodist College: Omaha, NE
Ni River Middle School: Spotsylvania, VA
North Seattle College: Seattle, WA
Park Center International Baccalaureate
World School: Brooklyn Park, MN
Richard Henry Dana Middle School: Hawthorne, CA
The Claremont Colleges Library: Claremont, CA
The High School at Vancouver Island University: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Toms River High School North: Toms River, NJ
University of Massachusetts Boston: Boston, MA
University of Notre Dame: Notre Dame, IN

About dancker
Founded in 1829, dancker is one of country’s oldest privately held companies. A leading interior solutions firm, dancker helps its clients rethink their spaces by maximizing the impact and value of real estate assets through the integration of architecture, furniture, and technology solutions. dancker is driven to “surprise and delight” its employees and customers, through an environment that inspires creativity and fosters positive change. dancker conducts business nationally from its headquarters, showroom and logistical facility in Somerville, NJ. For more information, please visit www.dancker.com.

About Steelcase Education
As lifelong learners, Steelcase Education aims to make a difference in education. For students, educators and designers, the organization creates the most effective, rewarding and inspiring learning spaces. As a dedicated group within Steelcase exclusively focused on education, it brings evidence-based design, technology and innovative solutions to education environments, wherever learning happens.

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