New Berlin teacher wins classroom renovation

By Carlee Bronkema

SANGAMON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - The Special Education and Life Skills Classroom at New Berlin High School got brand new furniture and a new layout thanks to a national classroom furniture giveaway. 

New Berlin Principal Hattie Llewellyn entered the giveaway along with 500 other school administrators. New Berlin was one of only three schools selected for the award. 

"We have two students in wheelchairs, four paraprofessionals, and a teacher and then eight total students in the classroom," said Llewellyn. "So we were squeezed in here using every available space. So the goal was to make it more spacious, more flexible, more user friendly for students and from what we've seen so far, they love it."

The new furniture includes several different types of chairs as well as desks and tables that can be moved more easily. 

Holly VanVeldhuizen is the Special Education and Structured Life Skills teacher at New Berlin. In addition to the traditional curriculum, she teaches student how to be more independent. 

"When you're comfortable in your environment, it just helps you start to learn and work with each other a lot more," said VanVeldhuizen. "A big thing is our students work on conversation skills on how to talk one-on-one with people and with the new huge chairs and plus getting to sit in the chair you have time to maybe pick up a topic and start talking about stuff and be able to interact together with them."