Of course, Native Americans have been living in this part of the world much longer, but Europeans first arrived here in 1618 in the form of French explorers. The first permanent settlement by Europeans began in 1868 at Sault Ste. Marie ( for those of you not from Michigan, the correct pronunciation is nothing like it looks - Soo-Sane-Marie is pretty close).
The British kicked out the French in 1763, and Americans fought the British for it between 1776 and 1812. We won!
Michigan was organized as a U.S. Territory on January 11, 1805, and then became our 26th state on January 26, 1837! So Happy Birthday Michigan! Many Happy Returns!
Though Mobile Ed is now a national company, and possibly the largest in our field (certainly one of the oldest and most respected) as Michigan natives we are proud of our state. From this “pleasant peninsula” we have, for more than thirty years, sent out tour after tour loaded with high quality, exciting, professional school shows and we have dazzled literally millions of children all over the country. We now have children coming to our programs whose parents themselves watched our shows as they were growing up. And all of them have benefited from not only the inherent entertainment value found in the cool explosions, awesome planetariums, exciting characters, and so on, but also from the educational value so intrinsically woven into all our school assemblies.
Of late, with the stress of meeting state educational standards in testing, some principals and superintendents have been turning away from school assemblies, choosing to focus rather on “time on task”. What a mistake! Great educational school assemblies are an important motivation and inspiration for kids, and the contribution made to a child’s development by spending 45 minutes in a portable planetarium or in the company of President Lincoln cannot be overstated. Just recently I spoke to a beautiful and successful woman, with kids of her own, who confessed that a school assembly she saw from us when she was young was a major influence on her choice of career. We have heard stories such as this before, and many times! We open children's minds and teach them to find excitement where they never expected to find it. Once that occurs, learning rushes in. We are humbly but solidly proud of the contributions we have made, and very proud to have made them as a Michigan company, taking learning to the world!
Happy Birthday, Michigan!
And many more! :-)
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.