LOGAN SQUARE — At Chase Elementary, music class is chaotic.
Thanks to the classroom's acoustics, all of the instrument-playing bleeds together to create a cacophony, making it difficult for students to learn and collaborate.
"If you were to walk in as an observer, it would seem like students were banging on instruments for the fun of it with no rhyme or reason," said Ian Stillmunks, music teacher at Chase.
"The sound bounces around, but not in a good way."
To combat this, the Logan Square elementary school, 2021 N. North Point St., recently launched a fundraising campaign in partnership with new Chicago-based startup, HowDoWe, to soundproof the classroom, which includes adding new carpeting and sound-suppressive cork to the floor.
As of Friday, the campaign had raised $485 toward its $5,350 goal.
In addition to improving music class, the soundproofing would also help special education students whose classroom is directly below and are often affected by the noise, according to the school.
"This will give the surrounding classrooms a quieter learning atmosphere while allowing the music program to experiment with new instruments and productions," the campaign reads.
Stillmunks, who has been teaching music at Chase for three years, said the school didn't have a music program until he arrived. Soundproofing the room, he said, will greatly benefit students who have come to rely on the program in recent years.
"Since music [class] has been happening, we've seen a lot of growth with the students. To have HowDoWe step in and help us is a huge thing," he said.
HowDoWe was founded by childhood friends Mike Anderson, 26, and Brian Letzter, 25. The site officially launched earlier this month.
Similar to sites like DonorsChoose and GoFundMe, HowDoWe bills itself as a "web-based fundraising platform that allows public schools to raise money and awareness to support capital projects for the benefit of society."
But HowDoWe is unique, the entrepreneurs said, because the money raised goes directly into the school's account rather than being sent to an individual teacher or staffer.
"It's giving donors full transparency," Letzter said.
Chase is the first fundraising project for HowDoWe. The pair is currently in talks with several more public schools.
"I feel like schools are disconnected from their own communities. We're trying to simplify that process," Letzter said.
