HON Has Lead Role In Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

The HON Company Has Lead Role In Extreme
Makeover: Home Edition Rescuing A Nashville
Pre-School Ravaged By Floods
“We turned to The HON Company knowing that they
could contribute the perfect furnishings for the
classrooms at Lighthouse School. We hope that
these solutions will set up the students and teachers
for more successful classroom experiences than they
have ever had before at this facility. We did not want
to just replace; we wanted to innovate and position
the school for a brighter future.”
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Senior Producer Diane Korman
In May of 2010, severe floods devastated the Nashville
area. What became a national symbol of this natural
disaster was the vision of the community’s Lighthouse
Pre-School floating down the local highway. Four
months later ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition came to the rescue, enlisting the best builders
and manufacturers to rebuild the facility and position
it for a successful future.
The HON Company responded to a call from the
show’s design team to provide its award-winning
SmartLink™ classroom furniture, along with seating for
students as well as for instructors and aides. The
contribution of furnishings also included Vicinity
desks and storage units, and chairs from its Ignition
seating series. All told, HON furnished the entire
facility including classrooms, a lounge, reception area
and administrative offices.
“Extreme Makeover is a special reality show that
celebrates the indomitable American spirit and
illustrates how important collaboration and
cooperation are among individuals,” said Shelley
deSilva, HON vice president marketing. “These are
The HON Company’s core values, as well, so we
felt especially privileged to participate in this
project.”
Products
SmartLink Student Desks
SmartLink Teacher’s Stations
SmartLink Storage Cabinets
Vicinity Work Storage Systems
Ignition Seating Collection
Opportunity/Goal
The HON Company joined Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition in acknowledging that the loss of the
Lighthouse School was a grave loss to the community.
It was agreed that this was an opportunity to not only
help replace this vital Nashville institution, but
improve and upgrade the educational experience—
bringing greater functionality and adaptability to the
classrooms and ensuring the optimum learning
environment.
Solutions/Results
In choosing SmartLink, HON provided the most
top-of-the-line educational furnishings available.
SmartLink is a comprehensive, visually coordinated
classroom furniture solution and is known as the best
in the market.
• The furniture is durable, mobile, multi-functional and
adaptable.
• The desks have accommodations for notebooks,
laptops, backpack hooks and adjustable heights.
• As the classroom evolves, the entire furniture
solution evolves with new learning styles from group
work to individual stations.
• It fosters interaction and collaboration easily
between student groups as well as during teachercentered activities.
• Storage units and teacher desks can be moved with
ease from one classroom to another.
• The visually dynamic and ergonomic designs create
an environment that’s stimulating, progressive and
conducive to learning.
SmartLink goes to the head of the class when it
comes to classroom furnishings. That’s because it is
based on extensive research and study conducted by
The HON Company to fully understand what type of
furniture is needed for this end-user segment. The
company interviewed facility managers, interior
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designers, teachers, principals, administrators and
students and learned that the optimum solution
should help to foster interaction, offer sensible
organization of teaching materials, work with
today’s technologies, be durable and highly
adaptable to a constantly evolving academic
environment.
What HON ultimately created based on this
insightful input were mobile teacher stations,
innovatively-shaped student desks, versatile
modular storage, a unique wall rail system, white
boards and other accessories. SmartLink is a
collection that instantly earned one of the
furniture industry’s most prestigious honors, a
Best of NeoCon Silver Award.
“HON’s reputation for quality school furniture is
well-established. To have our new pre-school
building be supplied by HON is truly an honor.
We know that this furniture will enable our
teachers at Lighthouse to continue to offer these
precious little ones an excellent education. In fact,
HON donated additional furniture to use in our
elementary school. It is comforting to know that
one thing we will not have to worry about for years
to come is the desks, chairs and furniture supplied
by The HON Company.”
Brian Sweatt, Principal Lighthouse School