The Mary Buren Elementary School library could soon carry the name of Ellen DeGeneres to recognize the role her talk show played in renovating and transforming the Guadalupe school facility.
The Guadadlupe Union School District board of trustees will consider dedicating and naming the library as “The Ellen DeGeneres Show Learning Center” during a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the school’s multipurpose room.
DeGeneres unveiled the renovated library on Monday’s show, but not before surprising staff one more time.
The talk show host came to the rescue after flooding from a storm last winter damaged the library’s books, furniture and learning tools. Staff discovered the damage upon returning from winter break earlier this year.
School staff contacted “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which responded to the plea in a big way.
“We received letters from every single one of their students asking for help after flooding destroyed their library, so we did something to help them out,” DeGeneres said on Monday’s show.
The show and Target’s Thanks a Billion campaign stepped up with $100,000, DeGeneres announced in the spring.
“It’s really hard to put in words what this has done for our school and for our kids, and I think they would want to say thank you,” third-grade teacher Ashley Thompson said on the show Monday.
The show had another surprise.
HGTV’s “Kitchen Cousins,” Anthony Carrino and John Colaneri, came in to put their own twist on the library’s design.
“We’re bringing a little of the cousins’ touch, and we’re going to blow it out for you guys,” Colaneri said.
DeGeneres called the renovated library “so basic, which is fine, but it’s nice to create an atmosphere where kids actually want to go hang out.”
The cousins said they wanted to create a place where a child’s imagination could run wild with reading areas and a technology corner.
One section is set up for Skype in the classroom to connect students with the world through a global learning lab.
“I promise you this library looks nothing like what you just saw. We turned it around big time,” Colaneri said.
The redesigned library features an enchanted forest theme with pops of color throughout the room.
“The kids finally have a learning center,” Colaneri said. “They can dream, they can do whatever they want, and that’s what a library should be. We want our children to dream big and do whatever they can in their life.”
The unveiling brought the third-grade teacher and Principal Jesely Alvarez to tears.
“This is so awesome,” Alvarez said.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.