I know that selling sponges for a living is not the most glamorous occupation in the world, but for the last few years, once a year, I get to go into an elementary school to speak about sponges and ocean life.
This last week, it was my turn to go into the 4th grade class to be a guest speaker. So, I brought in my variety of sea life to share with the kids for my “show and tell”. One of the advantages of being involved in a business that has been around so long is that I have some cool items from the past. The items I have were actually personally retrieved from the ocean by the founder of Detroit Sponge.
Of course, the collection includes sponges from around the world that all look unique. But also, there are a variety of other items and creatures from the ocean that I can show the kids. It has to be one of the most fun things to watch the student’s expressions as they look at a set of intact shark teeth, a huge star fish, and even a well preserved puffer fish. You can see their imaginations run wild when they see and touch the items.
Granted, we are in the Detroit area, so the students here do not have the biggest exposure to ocean life. Regardless, their imaginations run and man, do they ask fun questions! This year, I had more questions than ever about the wildly popular little sponge cartoon guy that’s on tv and all of his friends!
For me, this is a fun time that I look forward to and enjoy every year. Thank you to the teacher and to the kids for the opportunity to come in.
Sponge Mike
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