Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Unique Furniture Enhances Learning

  • 09/01/18
National Office Furniture

National Office Furniture provided furniture that gave TCALC classrooms the look and feel of a modern workplace.

The Topeka Center for Advanced Learning and Careers (TCALC) is an innovative high school program that provides students the opportunity to focus on professional skills like project management, business ethics, time management, teamwork, and creativity. Through a project-based curriculum, students receive authentic exposure to corporate environments while developing the skills needed to succeed in 21st-century professions.

The facility promotes this progressive approach through its variety of learning spaces. The facility was designed as if students are fully immersed in a professional culture, and offers collaboration spaces, multi-use areas, private offices, and team rooms to accommodate the unique curriculum.

To prepare students for high-skill, high-demand jobs, TCALC offers a variety of hands-on experiences and features spaces that encourage interaction within a professional atmosphere. Maneuver tables and Jiminy seating provide mobility, allowing students and faculty to reconfigure and accommodate their needs. Fringe, Reno, and Swift lounge furniture create a variety of collaboration spaces and casual commons areas. Private offices support flexibility with Tessera casegoods, while the Footings, Strassa, and WaveWorks tables provide unique gathering and meeting spaces.

Through four pathways (Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing, Bioscience and Biomedical, Business, and Human Services) TCALC is teaching business ethics and skills within a professional atmosphere, allowing students to become more comfortable in a business culture, setting them up for success in their careers after graduation.

“Our goal is to have a unique, welcoming, and thought-provoking educational space which had the look and feel of a modern day corporate business environment. National Office Furniture was instrumental in helping us achieve that goal,” says Larry Robbins, deputy superintendent of Operations, Topeka Public Schools.

www.NationalOfficeFurniture.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management September 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • UTampa Breaks Ground on STEM Academic Facility

    The University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla., recently broke ground on one of its largest academic facilities ever, according to a news release. The Dickey Science Innovation Center will measure 153,000 square feet and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.

  • Utah Valley University Opens New Engineering Building

    Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, recently held a grand-opening ceremony for the new Scott M. Smith Engineering Building, according to a news release. The facility is one of the largest engineering buildings in the state at almost 200,000 square feet, and it plays home to the university’s Smith College of Engineering and Technology (SCET).

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.