Second Annual 'Custodians Are Key' Contest Seeks Nominations

Tennant Company, a manufacturing and marketing solutions based company in the cleaning industry, launched the second annual Custodians Are Key campaign. The eight-month campaign recognizes the work of K-12 custodians across the country and honors them and their school with a $15,000 prize package. The program launched September 15 and concludes on May 14, 2021.

“We were overwhelmed by the positive response to our first Custodians are Key campaign,” Lisa Hrpcek, Marketing Manager at Tennant Company said in a press release. “The quality of candidates was amazing – clearly many custodians are making huge differences in their schools. Now, with the additional challenges brought on by the pandemic, the need for clean facilities has never been more important. And that makes our custodians even more critical to the health of their schools and their students. We are excited to build off last year’s successful program to honor these valuable front-line workers.”

The first round of nominations is open until November 15. Twelve finalists will be chosen and will receive a $500 gift card. Tennant will select a grand prize winner from the finalists pool. 

Tennant seeks nominations of school custodians who are making their schools better. Teachers, administrators, and parents are encouraged to nominate a custodian by filling out this form. A panel of judges from Tennant will select finalists and winners based on the quality of the nomination and the impact the custodian has made at their school. 

Kris Kantor, custodian at Hayes Elementary in Lakewood, Ohio, was awarded the grand prize this past June. Kantor was one of 2,000 nominees during the inaugural program.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Kansas Opens $400M Football Stadium Reconstruction

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently announced that the $400-million reconstruction of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is complete in time for the 2025 football season, according to a news release. The university partnered with Turner Construction Company on the project.

  • California Boarding School Opens New Inquiry Collaborative Facility

    Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, Calif., for students grades 9–12, recently announced that it has finished renovating a historic dining hall into a new academic hub, according to a news release. The school partnered with Blackbird Architects and Tangram Interiors on the two-story, 16,000-square-foot Inquiry Collaborative.

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • Longwood University Selects Builder for $73M Performing Arts Center

    Longwood University in Farmville, Va., recently announced that it has selected Swedish construction company Skanska as the builder of its new performing arts center, according to online news. The project involves the demolition of the current building and constructing a new, 64,500-square-foot facility.