School reaps TV bounty

It is fitting that this is the holiday season, because all week Jill Hallauer felt like a breathless child anticipating Christmas.

Hallauer, the art teacher at Pine View Elementary, was filled with wide-eyed wonder after her school won a $25,000 makeover for its art room in a nationwide contest sponsored by Bounty paper towels.

To pull off the classroom makeover, Bounty brought in celebrity designers Robert and Cortney Novogratz, stars of the HGTV show "Home by Novogratz."

The TV duo barred Hallauer from her classroom for three days as they and a crew transformed it, adding artistic touches, classroom supplies and enhanced technology.

"It's surreal," Hallauer said. "It's been like a dream all week. It's not my normal life."

On Thursday, she was welcomed to her new normal.

In a "big reveal" moment after a raucous pep rally, the Novogratzes escorted Hallauer and 20 students into a classroom that barely resembled the one Hallauer had left in the designers' care.

The floor was decked out in a black-and-white pattern of circles inside squares. Colorful chairs with curved bases surrounded six student work tables.

An overhead projector hung from the ceiling, and digital cameras and iPads awaited Hallauer in a technology room. Models of animals were arranged on the tables.

"This is too much," Hallauer said as she took in those details and more.

Numerous people played a role in the classroom improvement project, including seven Pine View teachers — Robin Lash, Stephanie Knight, Renee Benore, Diane Epifanio, Aimee Carter, Heather Ware and Jennifer Ford — who inadvertently set the whole thing in motion.

The teachers submitted classroom-supply wish lists to the website TeacherWishList.com, which helps teachers communicate their supply needs to parents. The website, created by School Family Media, is sponsored by Bounty paper towels.

Unbeknownst to the teachers, any school submitting five or more wish lists automatically qualified for a chance to win the $25,000 art-room makeover.

The Novogratzes, parents of seven children, have an affinity for renovating schools and have done a few classroom makeovers before, including one in Orlando. They are mindful that art, music and other classes that spark creativity are often the first to go when cuts are made.

That's why the Novogratzes enjoy doing makeovers of arts classrooms.

Even as they work on the makeovers, the Novogratzes are mindful of teachers' wish lists.

"The main thing is fulfilling the wish list," Robert Novogratz said.

Still, the Novogratzes squeezed in a few creative touches, such as the black-and-white patterned floor that proved popular with students, who were given an early peek Wednesday, a day ahead of the "big reveal."

"Oh, my gosh, that stands out," said Gavin Coleman, 9, a fourth-grader.

Other students who made it to the sneak preview were Sophie Viera, 9; Giorgi Mptias, 9; Kyle Wilczewski, 8; Chase Hemingway, 7; Colby Hemingway, 7; and Emma Ware, 6.

The 20 students chosen to accompany their art teacher for her first look at the room Thursday were also enthralled.

Emmanuel Durojaiye, 10, a fifth-grader, described the floor as "hypnotizing."

The chairs also were a hit.

"Are you kidding me?" Emmanuel said. "I want to sit here all day."

Hallauer said the hullabaloo created by the Novogratzes has given a boost to arts at Pine View Elementary.

"It's going to be like a new beginning for the art program here," she said.