For a little over two weeks Daniel Contreras, aka “King of Slime,” dedicated his mornings, evenings and lunches to making slime. But not just any slime — “not that nasty, old stuff,” Contreras said. This was specially ordered slime, with scents, colors and textures customized to customers’ orders. Slime is a popular squishy “toy product” first introduced by Mattel that some now make at home.
Joined by slime queens Tamaya Goggins and Sarah Biosah, the seventh-grade trio processed more than 80 requests for the glossy substance these last few weeks — selling each 6-ounce container for $5 — and raised more than $400 to benefit LifeStraw, a nonprofit that creates clean water filters for schools in Kenya.
After a school year spent organizing, and a frantic two weeks spent mixing glue, borax and water, the group will celebrate at the AllState Arena in Rosemont on April 25, aka “We Day,” a nonprofit that promotes youth volunteerism. Led by Daniel Staser, a teacher at Forest Park Middle School, the trio will join about 70 other classmates, the most of any school in the state, he said.
“You can’t buy a ticket; you have to earn a ticket. You have to do something local and then something global,” Staser said. “Most schools only earn 20 tickets; we got for our group like 70 tickets. We get to take a lot of kids here to this.”
District 91 students will take the Blue Line to Rosemont, and then catch a bus to AllState Arena. Once they arrive, they will get to see a star-studded lineup, play games, and might even be on TV. Students are particularly excited about seeing Skai Jackson, an actress on the Disney Channel.
While D91 students raised more than $800 for We Day by holding a pancake breakfast and a dodgeball tournament, selling slime was the most memorable — and potentially most profitable. We Day organizers will honor “Slime King” Contreras at the event in a special, secret way since he led the slime effort. The Kenyan Boys Choir will also perform at D91 on April 27 because of the students’ hard work.
“Daniel’s slime is amazing; it’s one of the best slimes I ever had,” said Biosah. “It’s like real quality, like if you were going to a store. Some people might mess it up, but Daniel makes sure his slime is good before he gives it out to people.”
Although cloud slime was the most popular among D91 students, Contreras, 13, said he prefers to make butter slime “because it does everything. It stretches, it spreads, it pokes, it’s got gloss, all that, the whole shebang,” he said.
He taught himself to make different kinds of slime by watching YouTube videos. After mixing more than 480 ounces of glue, water, food coloring and more, these past few weeks, he said, “I always knew it was good to help give back to community, but I learned it actually feels good to do, too.”
CONTACT: ntepper@wjinc.com
