​LANSING — Three decades ago, Kurt Richardson walked the halls of Fairview Elementary School as a third-grader from the crosstown Cranbrook Housing Projects. A self-described “naughty kid,” it was here that he met a teacher who taught him that his choices — not his neighborhood — controlled his destiny.Richardson returned Friday, Oct. 9, to his alma mater in Lansing, now called Pattengill Biotechnical Magnet School. Alongside more than a dozen Michigan State student athletes, he helped present a $50,000 donation of furniture to the school’s “Owl Room,” where a gaggle of elementary and middle school students hooted and hollered their thanks.“This was the highlight of my weekend to get to come over here with all of you,” Richardson told the students.In partnership with Michigan State, the College Football Playoff Foundation and Eckrich, the Big Ten’s “B1G Build” initiative made its third stop of the year at Pattengill, with previous projects at Rutgers and Indiana. The initiative will visit all 18 Big Ten campuses and a selected partner over the next three years.B1G Build is the brainchild of Omar Brown, the conference’s senior vice president of community and impact. The initiative partners up Big Ten member schools with a local school, where a philanthropic initiative connects the two. The hope is to create long-lasting connections.“The idea is, can we take a space that’s used by student athletes and teachers, modernize it, and make it really show these students here that they’re worth it and that investing in them is important,” Brown said.“For a long time, we wanted to do something amazing with this space,” Pattengill principal Jaimi Nedziwe said, “and we just didn’t have the resources to do so, so we are very thankful today to everyone who chipped in.”As MSU athletes including linebacker Jordan Hall, volleyball standout Malayah Long and the Sparty mascot himself riled the students up, All-American point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. gave them a speech. Before he spoke, someone asked if there were any basketball players in the crowd. One child, who loudly yelled “no,” brought out a roar of laughs from the other Spartans and a smile from Fears, who is a lot more comfortable with his spotlight than he used to be.“This is actually my first time here,” Fears said afterward. “I really enjoyed it. I always ride past it. I never was actually able to go inside, so this was great. I definitely know my middle school, elementary school didn’t have rooms and areas, nice furniture and little things like that.”More: Ugly practices are a thing of beauty to Tom Izzo, SpartansOne of Michigan State’s key staffers, Richardson, is someone who can take that message to heart. The visit brought a rush of nostalgia as he tried his best to explain to second- and third-graders his own story of a prodigal son.“When I was here at this school, I got to come to this school from far, far away,” Richardson told the stu