So what do Green Bay, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dallas, Texas all have in common? The 2011 Superbowl, right? Well, yes, of course! But something else, too. Mobile Ed visits schools in all three places to perform school assemblies.! There, now you knew that, right? :-)

But here is something to think about. From birth on American kids are pushed into sports head first. Now, it doesn't usually take a lot of pushing, of course. Sports are fun. Sports are exciting. And sports continue to be exciting fun as we grow into adults. In fact, sports have been known to cause adults to turn back into kids. So there is a natural affinity between kids and sports.

But sports do not really advance education. And kids do need to be shown that the areas they are asked to learn about in school other than sports are also exciting and fun. And this is why we have school assemblies! Great science assemblies, and vivid living history school assemblies take subjects often thought of as boring and show kids that these topics are in fact really cool! School assemblies done well are perfect for leading kids into areas they might not find on their own. School assemblies provoke the young minds of today to take the first steps toward the careers of tomorrow.

When the President spoke at the State of the Union recently, he did not call for a renewed effort to make the United States the leader in sports. He called for a renewed effort to bring us back to a position of leadership in education. School assemblies really help this effort, whether through a really cool chemistry program or a Ben Franklin impersonator, a portable planetarium or a live animals program. The school assembly that causes a student to cheer for an explosion of chemicals or that enraptures a child with a tale of the life of a long dead president may also be laying the foundations for a career in chemistry or paving the way for a lifetime in public service.

Don't get me wrong. I love sports, too! But kids don't need to be encouraged to eat their pizza and chips, do they? They do need encouragement to eat their fruit and vegetables. And school assemblies do just that! So, go Steelers, go Packers, and go school assemblies!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN