FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2008
Contact:
Mike Ockrim
Chicago School Supply
mike@chicagoschoolsupply.com
(866) 648 2668
Professional Educators and Parents Invited to Attend 'Games in Education Forum' November 22, 2008
Free Educational Forum Co-Sponsored by Chicago School Supply and Games for Educators is a State of Illinois Certified Provider of CPDU Credits Event.
Chicago- Parents, teachers and school administrators who want to learn how to incorporate games into the learning process are encouraged to attend the Games in Education Forum a free event taking place on Saturday November 22 from 1-6pm at Navy Pier's Festival Hall A. Participants in this educational event will attend professional development seminars on how and why to use games in the curriculum. Chicago School Supply CEO Mike Ockrim a presenter and is co-sponsoring this event with Games for Educators. "Creative play has always been an important teaching tool and I think this forum will help anyone interested in learning how to incorporate fun learning in their classrooms and homes" says Ockrim.
Other forum presenters include Ben Takemori, a Kapla Master Builder; Barbara Olsen of Jax Games; Pat Fuge of Out of the Box Publishing; representatives from Renaissance Knights Chess Organization; Graeme Thomson, a columnist for Games for Educators and Director of HL Games; and Patrick Matthews, Publisher of Games for Educators and President of Live Oak Games. Speakers will be presenting such topics as why games are good for the brain, how to evaluate games for their educational potential and demonstrate how some teachers are already integrating games into their educational programs.
"This event is not limited to teachers. We hope to see parents, school administrators and future educators benefit from this information" says Ockrim. Admission to the Games in Education Forum is free and open to the public but a reservation is required . To make a reservation, email mary@gamesforeducators.com or call 847-677-8277 with your name and your school to reserve your seat.
Chicago School Supply, http://www.chicagoschoolsupply.com/, serves public and private school administrators, principals, teachers and parents throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Their online retail store, http://www.schoodoodle.com/ and their weblog, http://www.schoodoodle.com/blog/ are resources for teachers and home schoolers seeking tips, free lesson plans, articles and educational materials.
Games for Educators is a Web site provided by the Chicago Toy & Game Fair and Live Oak Games to promote the use of games in education. Visit their site at http://www.gamesforeducators.com/ for more information.
CSS In the News
Welcome to the official press center for Chicago School Supply and SchooDoodle.com!
Here you will find the most recent articles and newsbites about our company, the executives and owners.
If you are interested in receiving updated information about Chicago School Supply, or need to schedule an interview, please contact our corporate office at (630) 214-9498 or email webinfo@chicagoschoolsupply.com.
Thank you for your interest in Chicago School Supply and ShooDoodle.com!
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Professional Educators and Parents Invited to Attend 'Games in Education Forum' November 22, 2008
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2008
Contact:
Michael Ockrim
866 648-2668
Chicago School Supply Competes in Blogger Challenge 2008 to Raise Money for Local Schools
Education supply retailer pledges to raise money and complete classroom projects for underserved Chicago area schools.
Chicago, IL- Bloggers around the globe are competing this month to raise money for U.S. classrooms on DonorsChoose.org for the Blogger Challenge 2008. Education bloggers like Chicago School Supply CEO Mike Ockrim are up for the challenge. "Our goal is to raise $2,500 and complete 20 classroom projects this month" says Ockrim. "This is our first time competing in such a project, and it is really exciting. Many of our projects are already 65-75% funded and just a few more dollars will provide these Chicago classrooms with the resources they need to enhance the learning process".
DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit organization developed to provide students in need with much needed resources often lacking in the public school systems. Teachers submit project proposals for their students onto the Website and the ideas become classroom reality when individuals, called 'Citizen Philanthropists', choose projects to fund. The idea behind the this challenge is for bloggers to inspire their readers to become 'Citizen Philanthropists'. The blogger that mobilizes the most readers will receive a lunch with Yahoo! CEO Jerry Lang, In addition, Yahoo! will pay for a field trip for the kids at a school of the winning blogger’s choice (up to $5,000).
Proposals range from "Magical Math Centers" ($200) to "Big Book Bonanza" ($320), to "Cooking Across the Curriculum" ($1,100). Any individual can search such proposals by areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the project(s) they find most compelling.
Chicago School Supply, http://www.chicagoschoolsupply.com, serves public and private school administrators, principals, teachers and parents throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Their online retail store, http://www.schoodoodle.com and their Weblog, http://www.schoodoodle.com/blog/ are resources for teachers and home schools seeking tips, free lesson plans, articles and educational materials.
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sanity for Science Teachers
Free educational website promotes science curriculum and activities for students and teachers.
Chicago, IL-Students all over the country are headed back to school and will soon have this question in mind, "What am I will do for the science fair this year?" Although science fairs are developed with the best intentions; they frequently bring elevated levels of stress and headaches to educators, students and parents as poorly planned projects go awry while supportive parents rush to gather the necessary materials for their child's project.
Science Fair Sanity, http://www.sciencefairsanity.com, is a free resource developed to address the fears most commonly associated with science fairs: What am I supposed to do? Where will I get the supplies? How am I going to present this? The site contains free information and resources for students and educators. Teachers can share information and questions on organizing their science fairs and receive assistance finding judges to participate. They can also find numerous free resources such as the Teacher Guide: Steps to a Successful Science Fair Project and a handout that provides questions for the judges. Students and parents can download free science fair project ideas and find information on how they can display their work and present to judges. Links are provided where students can find materials to supplement their science fair project.
Science Fair Sanity is the brainchild of Michael Ockrim, Founder and President of Chicago School Supply. "Science fairs are such an enriching activity for students and teachers to participate in; but I know they can be overwhelming." Ockrim says. "I believe educators and students need a place where they can share ideas and learn from each other."
Chicago School Supply, http://www.chicagoschoolsupply.com, serves public and private school administrators, principals, teachers and parents throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Their online retail store, http://www.schoodoodle.com and their weblog, http://www.schoodoodle.com/blog/ are resources for teachers and home schoolers seeking tips, free lesson plans, articles and educational materials.
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Educational Dealer MagazineNovember 2007
by Tina Mazer
Michael Ockrim has a lifetime of experience in school supply retail. It’s a familiar story: Until he left for college, Mike helped out in his mother’s teacher store, The Education Depot. He assisted customers, stocked the shelves and worked the register. When he graduated, he returned to help his mother run the store.
Over the course of six years, with Michael’s help, the store’s size doubled and revenue tripled. The Education Depot established a Web presence and brought in catalog sales. There was just one problem: It was moving too fast for mom, and too slow for Michael.
“My mom, Deborah, is a retired teacher and she always enjoyed running the store. She likes working with the teachers and setting up the bulletin boards. Her outlook on the business is much simpler than mine,” he explained. “When it got bigger, she became overwhelmed. We started working on a transfer of ownership, but we just couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.
“In August, 2006, I spun off and started Chicago School Supply,” he continued. “I took a few of the niche markets I was serving with me – Title I programs and staff training and professional development for educators and administrators. My mother wasn’t interested in those markets. I partnered with a well-established school supply dealer to sell via a 600-page full-line catalog and built a website from scratch called SchooDoodle.”
Chicago School Supply’s competitors are the bigger dealers in the industry and big box office stores. Thanks to Michael’s business philosophy and fresh perspective on the school supply industry, he can get and maintain market share.
“Some vendors may be able to provide books and an easel stand, for instance, but they don’t provide ink or computers,” he explained. “That’s where we’re different. We try to be full service for our customers. We sell large volumes of software, computers, printers, ink … we sell big copy machines! There are all different budgets within the Chicago Board of Education. I get my clients what they want.”
Michael enjoys working with the Chicago City School system, “a huge bureaucratic machine” that allows for a significant number of players rather than just a few vendors. Michael’s modus operandi is to establish relationships with the decision makers in the school system, working with the administrators on down to the teachers.
“We do e-mail marketing and direct mailings, but I find that forming relationships does the most to build the business,” Michael said. “I try to remember what’s going on in my clients’ lives so that we can chat about it when we meet. I know it sounds cheesy, but for me it works. That kind of marketing has been very valuable for me.”
In terms of overlap with his mother’s store, yes, there is some. Mike has found, however, that The Education Depot customers are the kind of people who want to look around in a store, as opposed to shopping online. “We got a call today from a lady looking for a specific resource book,” he told us. “I told her we were affiliated with The Education Depot and I gave her the store’s phone number. By the same token, when my mother gets requests for furniture and equipment kinds of things, she forwards them to us.
“Our customers go online to buy, not browse,” he added. “But what they buy is all over the map. That’s why we have to offer such a broad line of products.”
Follow the money trail
In addition to Chicago School Supply, Mike owns two other companies. One is a real estate management company; he owns the strip mall where The Education Depot is located. “I’m actually my mother’s landlord,” he said.
The other is called Chicago Education Consultants. It came about simply by following a money trail. “There’s always money for education, you just have to know where it is and follow it. In doing so, you find the niche markets,” said Michael.
It started this way: Among Chicago School Supply’s clients was a particular group of educators who had significant funding for classroom materials and furniture. Even after he filled their order, a large chunk of money remained on the table, earmarked for specialized educational materials and additional instructors. Michael thought he could help them spend that money. “On a whim, I put together a proposal for the Chicago Board of Education for some field trips. They accepted it, and I’ve done a series of field trips for disadvantaged kids living in a group home,” he told us. “We hired guides and took them on tours that taught them about the architecture, the culture and the ethnicity of Chicago. I’m really enjoying it, it’s needed and it’s rewarding to me personally. I get to see the kids’ faces light up when we take them out on a boat. It’s a cool component of our business that I’d like to see grow, once I contend with issues like liability.”
It’s not the only area of the business with growth potential, but the challenge going forward is to manage all the irons in the fire with limited human resources. Michael doesn’t appear worried about it. “I like being able to control my own destiny,” he told us. “I like to follow what looks good to me. I’m young enough – 28 – to have no fear of risk. I might fall on my face, but I guess if I’m going to do all this stuff, it’s good that I’m doing it now.”
Commit to the Internet
In order to see significant revenue from online sales, school supply retailers must commit to their websites. “I understand that there are a lot of dealers in our industry who see it as a side component to their physical store, but they don’t understand the full potential,” said Michael Ockrim.
He does. “We’re building a huge footprint online,” he said. “I’m trying to build the brand. We have half a dozen websites that serve different purposes and draw people to our online community.”One of them, SchooDoodle.com, offers online sales of educational materials, school supplies and learning resources for parents, teachers and children. Michael and his assistant maintain SchooDoodle.com in-house and when we conducted this interview, they were in the process of increasing their online offerings by 30 percent. “We wanted our website to be uncomplicated enough to be able to add anything ourselves anytime,” he said.
The name “SchooDoodle” is sometimes difficult for people to understand when you’re saying it to them but there was method to Michael’s madness. “Once somebody finds it or uses it, they ‘get it,’ and remember it,” he told us. “We try to brand it pretty well with Chicago School Supply.
“Company names are important,” he said. “Too many retailers in our industry come up with a clever name for their business, then all the clever names blend together and become un-memorable. In the case of Chicago School Supply, where we’re trying to compete on an administrative level, I wanted it to be easy to remember. It’s simple and says, ‘Here’s what we do.’ But with the Internet, I discovered it’s just the opposite. People don’t remember plain names.”
Hang Around Smart People
The advocate of relationship marketing has been an active member of the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) for many years. A current member of the Board of Directors, Michael served on the association’s Retail Store Council when he worked for The Education Depot, and is a founding member of the LEAD Committee.
That involvement, he says, is invaluable. “I’m a firm believer that hanging around with smart people makes you smarter,” he said. “I recently attended the NSSEA Fall Leadership Meeting in New Orleans, and while I was sitting in on a distributors meeting, a guy named Greg Cessna came in and started imparting all sorts of wisdom. Suddenly I realized that he’s the president of Education Essentials of School Specialty. Not only am I getting all sorts of information from this 800-pound gorilla in our industry, but I’m also listening to the president of a Fortune 500 company in this intimate setting. People would pay a lot of money to be involved in that scenario. It was so helpful for Chicago School Supply. I realized that we have a lot of the same problems in common. His numbers are just bigger.”
Over the course of six years, with Michael’s help, the store’s size doubled and revenue tripled. The Education Depot established a Web presence and brought in catalog sales. There was just one problem: It was moving too fast for mom, and too slow for Michael.
“My mom, Deborah, is a retired teacher and she always enjoyed running the store. She likes working with the teachers and setting up the bulletin boards. Her outlook on the business is much simpler than mine,” he explained. “When it got bigger, she became overwhelmed. We started working on a transfer of ownership, but we just couldn’t come to a meeting of the minds.
“In August, 2006, I spun off and started Chicago School Supply,” he continued. “I took a few of the niche markets I was serving with me – Title I programs and staff training and professional development for educators and administrators. My mother wasn’t interested in those markets. I partnered with a well-established school supply dealer to sell via a 600-page full-line catalog and built a website from scratch called SchooDoodle.”
Chicago School Supply’s competitors are the bigger dealers in the industry and big box office stores. Thanks to Michael’s business philosophy and fresh perspective on the school supply industry, he can get and maintain market share.
“Some vendors may be able to provide books and an easel stand, for instance, but they don’t provide ink or computers,” he explained. “That’s where we’re different. We try to be full service for our customers. We sell large volumes of software, computers, printers, ink … we sell big copy machines! There are all different budgets within the Chicago Board of Education. I get my clients what they want.”
Michael enjoys working with the Chicago City School system, “a huge bureaucratic machine” that allows for a significant number of players rather than just a few vendors. Michael’s modus operandi is to establish relationships with the decision makers in the school system, working with the administrators on down to the teachers.
“We do e-mail marketing and direct mailings, but I find that forming relationships does the most to build the business,” Michael said. “I try to remember what’s going on in my clients’ lives so that we can chat about it when we meet. I know it sounds cheesy, but for me it works. That kind of marketing has been very valuable for me.”
In terms of overlap with his mother’s store, yes, there is some. Mike has found, however, that The Education Depot customers are the kind of people who want to look around in a store, as opposed to shopping online. “We got a call today from a lady looking for a specific resource book,” he told us. “I told her we were affiliated with The Education Depot and I gave her the store’s phone number. By the same token, when my mother gets requests for furniture and equipment kinds of things, she forwards them to us.
“Our customers go online to buy, not browse,” he added. “But what they buy is all over the map. That’s why we have to offer such a broad line of products.”
Follow the money trail
In addition to Chicago School Supply, Mike owns two other companies. One is a real estate management company; he owns the strip mall where The Education Depot is located. “I’m actually my mother’s landlord,” he said.
The other is called Chicago Education Consultants. It came about simply by following a money trail. “There’s always money for education, you just have to know where it is and follow it. In doing so, you find the niche markets,” said Michael.
It started this way: Among Chicago School Supply’s clients was a particular group of educators who had significant funding for classroom materials and furniture. Even after he filled their order, a large chunk of money remained on the table, earmarked for specialized educational materials and additional instructors. Michael thought he could help them spend that money. “On a whim, I put together a proposal for the Chicago Board of Education for some field trips. They accepted it, and I’ve done a series of field trips for disadvantaged kids living in a group home,” he told us. “We hired guides and took them on tours that taught them about the architecture, the culture and the ethnicity of Chicago. I’m really enjoying it, it’s needed and it’s rewarding to me personally. I get to see the kids’ faces light up when we take them out on a boat. It’s a cool component of our business that I’d like to see grow, once I contend with issues like liability.”
It’s not the only area of the business with growth potential, but the challenge going forward is to manage all the irons in the fire with limited human resources. Michael doesn’t appear worried about it. “I like being able to control my own destiny,” he told us. “I like to follow what looks good to me. I’m young enough – 28 – to have no fear of risk. I might fall on my face, but I guess if I’m going to do all this stuff, it’s good that I’m doing it now.”
Commit to the Internet
In order to see significant revenue from online sales, school supply retailers must commit to their websites. “I understand that there are a lot of dealers in our industry who see it as a side component to their physical store, but they don’t understand the full potential,” said Michael Ockrim.
He does. “We’re building a huge footprint online,” he said. “I’m trying to build the brand. We have half a dozen websites that serve different purposes and draw people to our online community.”One of them, SchooDoodle.com, offers online sales of educational materials, school supplies and learning resources for parents, teachers and children. Michael and his assistant maintain SchooDoodle.com in-house and when we conducted this interview, they were in the process of increasing their online offerings by 30 percent. “We wanted our website to be uncomplicated enough to be able to add anything ourselves anytime,” he said.
The name “SchooDoodle” is sometimes difficult for people to understand when you’re saying it to them but there was method to Michael’s madness. “Once somebody finds it or uses it, they ‘get it,’ and remember it,” he told us. “We try to brand it pretty well with Chicago School Supply.
“Company names are important,” he said. “Too many retailers in our industry come up with a clever name for their business, then all the clever names blend together and become un-memorable. In the case of Chicago School Supply, where we’re trying to compete on an administrative level, I wanted it to be easy to remember. It’s simple and says, ‘Here’s what we do.’ But with the Internet, I discovered it’s just the opposite. People don’t remember plain names.”
Hang Around Smart People
The advocate of relationship marketing has been an active member of the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) for many years. A current member of the Board of Directors, Michael served on the association’s Retail Store Council when he worked for The Education Depot, and is a founding member of the LEAD Committee.
That involvement, he says, is invaluable. “I’m a firm believer that hanging around with smart people makes you smarter,” he said. “I recently attended the NSSEA Fall Leadership Meeting in New Orleans, and while I was sitting in on a distributors meeting, a guy named Greg Cessna came in and started imparting all sorts of wisdom. Suddenly I realized that he’s the president of Education Essentials of School Specialty. Not only am I getting all sorts of information from this 800-pound gorilla in our industry, but I’m also listening to the president of a Fortune 500 company in this intimate setting. People would pay a lot of money to be involved in that scenario. It was so helpful for Chicago School Supply. I realized that we have a lot of the same problems in common. His numbers are just bigger.”
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Face to Face Interview from Essentials Magazine (November 2006)______________________________________________________________________
Direct Marketing from Educational Dealer Magazine (April/May 2006)
