Just over a week ago, the Best Practices team officially moved into our new space at 75 Piedmont Avenue, also known as the Citizens Trust Bank Building. Excited, though also nervous, we made our way to the sixth floor suite across campus. New commute routes, new parking challenges, longer walks to MARTA. More space, better training facilities, better location!
Our first week was spent furiously unpacking 320 plastic crates and 21 speed packs. “Speed pack” does not adequately explain what this type of moving container really is. Think about a pallet-sized cube, approximately 3 ft on each side. It’s a huge box! The movers used these to pack our stuff once they filled all the crates. Yes, we have that much stuff!
Anyone need 2,478 plastic frogs? Buckets of confetti? 1,692 caps from cardboard mailing tubes? We’ve got them! And…we had to unpack them.
With nearly everyone in the office at the same time (unheard of!), we emptied those crates and packs in two days! By Thursday, we managed to organize the storage room, too…mostly. There were many sore shoulders and achy feet, but our team work paid off.
Above are several “before” shots of our new suite. It mostly looks tidy and neat. I can’t show you the “during” pictures. Some of you, meaning me, just couldn’t handle seeing that much chaos frozen in time. Picture your Pre-K classroom at the end of center time on the day before winter break after the children have each been given 32oz of Red Bull and a large bowl of cake icing. Now multiply that by 72, and you have a beginning understanding of what the “during” looked like.
It ain’t pretty.
Below are a few “after” shots. Neat and organized. All is well with the world.
The training room, after being emptied of the nearly 300 crates. There’s a bit more work to be done before the room is ready for participants, and we are looking forward to welcoming you to this fantastic space. While we can’t seem to find a space without columns in the middle, these are much smaller than those in our previous space. When the room was being designed, we insisted that the contractor fill the room with power outlets, and he delivered. There are at least 30 outlets available for all your iCharging needs.
Just to the right and out of sight is the reception space where you might be greeted by the amazing Ty Thacker. Straight ahead and on the left side are the offices for all of our trainers. Tidy and neat! The door on the right leads into our storage room, also known as “seventeen”.
Just a glimpse at part of seventeen after the unpacking and organizing had occurred. Whew!
To those who will attend training at the Best Practices office this year, we say, “Y’all come!”
I train Georgia PreK teachers and dabble a bit in the art of blogging. Have an idea for a blog post? Email me at bestpractices@gsu.edu. On the web: www.bestpractices.gsu.edu Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestpracticespk Twitter: @bestpracticespk
