It’s May and our phones are ringing off the hook. Clients from schools here in the Midwest and all around the country are calling to set their school shows and school assemblies and enrichment programs for next year. Wise schools like to schedule in the spring because they know they get the best selection of dates and also because they can then relax all summer knowing they don’t have “the sword of Damocles” hanging over their heads. Their season is set. Many times I have concluded a conversation with a school principal in which we set their dates for the following year and then ask what they were doing for the summer. The reply is always something like “ I am going to Hilton Head to play golf, and I am really happy to get this off my plate so I can relax and not worry about next year!”
Although our company office is located in Michigan, our school assembly performers spend the year traveling throughout not just Michigan but Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, across the middle of the country, into Texas and California or on the East Coast. So when they are performing their school shows in Michigan close by they usually drop into the office so we can all catch up. Yesterday we were treated to a visit from Dave Mitchell, our world class Ben Franklin presenter, who also carries our math and reading school assembly programs. But yesterday we were all excited to hear the updates on the new anti- bullying show - Stronger Than a Bully - that Dave is busy developing for next year. Boy, it is really exciting! Seeing some of the ingredients of the new program was a real treat and it looks as though Dave has really hit one out of the park this time. Schools seem to agree as Stronger Than a Bully is already experiencing stronger than normal sales for next year. We expect this program to sell out quickly! It was great to see Dave! Today he is back in the saddle performing his reading program - Reading: More Than Words! - at a school in Dearborn, Michigan. I am certain they are having a great time!
Ohio is just across the line from our home state of Michigan so, of course, a lot of our school assemblies appear at Ohio schools throughout the year. Every so often we will encounter a reporter at a school, either from a newspaper or a television station, and we are always happy to see them. Sadly, by the time the article appears in print we are usually gone from the area and so we seldom see our own publicity.
Recently, however, one of our school assembly presenters was in a southern Ohio school to present our television production school assembly program - “Lights Camera Action”. Derek McDonald, one of the gentlemen who presents that show was visiting at the Bishop Flaget school in Chillicothe, Ohio. He found himself speaking with David Berman, a reporter from the Chillicothe Gazette. Well David wrote a nice little piece about the program which you can read here:
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20110303/NEWS01/103030301/-1/7daysarchives/Bishop-Flaget-students-get-hands-chance-video-production
We are very proud of Derek. Derek hails from the great state of Tennessee and has been performing school assemblies in schools throughout the midwest for us for many years. He has many fans in schools in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Derek also presents our Character Counts school assembly “Inspector Iwannano”, and does a really great job. The great news is that next year Derek will also take on two of our other programs (two of our absolute best!), “Sky Dome Planetarium” and “The Earth Dome” (AKA Earth Balloon). We are certain he will bring great professionalism and flair to these fine school assemblies. The bad news is that next year Derek will spend very little time in the midwest schools where he has performed for so many years. Schools in Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky will have to fight over a small number of dates in September and January, as Derek will spend much of the 2011-2012 school year on the East coast visiting our client schools in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New England and throughout the area around DC, Maryland and Virginia. So bad news for midwest schools but great news for schools on the East coast.
Regardless of where you are, whether your school is in Ohio or New York, Michigan or Virginia, the great school assemblies presented by Derek will provide an awesome experience for your school. He is a champion school assembly performer and we hope you will bring him to your school next year!
Our resident author, Geoff Beauchamp, writes blog posts exemplifying the talent of his co-workers and the importance of the school assembly programs they present. The humble Mr. Beauchamp never writes to exemplify his talent. This blog post will do what has never been done before, praise Geoff for his dedication, hard work and inspiring performance as Abraham Lincoln.
Get the news out! As of this week, Mobile Ed is now accepting orders for school assemblies at Midwest schools for the 2011-2012 school year.
We have written before about Rojo, a truly inspiring school assembly presenter who has worked for us for many years. He currently performs our Character Counts assembly program - Inspector Iwannano - and also is one of our presenters for the portable planetarium Skydome here in the Midwest. But Rojo came to us originally to present our Martin Luther King school assembly, and he is still truly magnificent in that role and renowned for his presentations in schools throughout the Midwest. And that is what some students from Natcher Elementary in Bowling Green, Kentucky found out for themselves just recently!
Well, it’s December 17, 2010, and the year is winding down here at Mobile Ed Productions. At lunchtime today the office will close, and, with the exception of a skeleton staff, we will be closed until January 3.
So Thanksgiving is over and that only means one thing here in Michigan and Ohio and the rest of the Midwest. Winter is coming and it’s right around the corner!
Schools searching online for elementary school assembly ideas will no doubt be struck eventually by the fact that of the many companies and performers offering science assemblies and other types of educational school assembly programs, a very large number are based in Michigan and other parts of the Midwest.
