Travel is a regular part of the life of a school assembly performer. Professional presenters of school assemblies are regularly “on the road”, and these "road warriors" often rack up huge amounts of miles during the course of a normal school year. One presenter of ours who does not usually travel as often or as far, is our wonderful “Dr Exhaustus” himself, Jeff Hoge. Jeff is resident in Chicago and regularly performs in schools all around northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, with his own program on the environment, “Our Changing Climate” as well as with our creative writing school assembly program “Young Authors Day”. In addition, during the winter, Jeff handles our Living Lincoln assembly program.

So I was watching a commercial recently, and they had a Polar Bear walking slowly from somewhere out in the snow.
He came all the way into the suburbs of some city to give a hug to some guy who drives an electric car. It was cute. But I got to thinking... does an electric car really help the environment? Or does the manufacturing of the car create enough pollution
to offset the gains from not burning gas? Or does it make any difference at all? I am no expert so I really don't know the answers to these questions, but I know someone who can give me some really good information on the subject!

Just a quick reminder for those who missed last weeks announcements...

Something to say today about another performer we are all really proud of here at Mobile Ed. Robert Pirtle is a fine and handsome young gentleman who hails from the great city of Memphis, Tennessee. He also presents one heck of a “killer” school assembly program. 

I just had to share this! Kathleen Day is one of our best and most charming presenters. She performs in four shows for us. She presents The Earth Dome, Crime Scene Science, Forces and Motion and They Made a Difference. Since she is an Ohio girl we have her touring in the Midwest only, visiting schools in Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and, of course, Ohio, predominantly but also occasionally to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Missouri. 

No one can be unaware of the difficult times being faced by school today. Money is scarce everywhere, but nowhere is this more true than in parts of the Midwest. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin and other “heart of the nation” states are reeling from budget cuts and failed fundraisers.

We all know how hard the economy has been on schools. District budgets are down.
Teachers are being laid off. Parent organizations are being asked to cover supplies even while their own fundraisers are going down in flames. Money is tight to say the least.

We had a great day today, talking to school assembly coordinators from all over the greater Chicago area about our school assemblies! Today, of course, was the first of two days comprising the Center East Showcase at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Illinois.

Just a quick one today to remind all of our friends in Chicago and other nearby parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and western Michigan that this coming week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts will host it’s annual School Assembly Performer Showcase in Skokie, Illinois.

Some information to consider today about different types of school assembly performers. All different kinds of people are now involved in bringing programs to schools. We can divide them into some groups, though, in order to bring in some structure.