(Above: Marana High School teachers Sarah Ross and Heidi Barker work on the presentation)
The competition may be just over two months away, but the Marana delegation is already hard at work setting the stage for the big presentation.
Marana High School teachers Sarah Ross and Heidi Barker play a large role in writing the script for the presentation. Both teach in the fine arts division, and direct students in their respective fields; Ross in choir, and Barker in drama. In addition to writing the presentation, they are also recruiting students to be a part of the Marana delegation.
"I love my kids," Ross gushes excitedly. "We have so many great kids, they're going to do awesome in the presentation."
Ross and Barker both participated in developing last year's presentation to the All-America City judges, and are excited to come back for a second time.
"We learned a lot last year that will help us write this year's presentation," Barker said.
(Above: Staging for the All-America City presentation)
Each community is given ten minutes to make a presentation before the All-America City jury explaining why they should be named an All-America City. The presentation can follow any format, which will then be followed by ten minutes of questions to the presenters. The time limits are strictly enforced, and the Marana delegation has exactly 2.5 minutes to set up the presentation from scratch.
The presentation is judged by the following criteria:
- Broad-based citizen involvement, reflecting the community's demographics
- Public, private and nonprofit participation; broadly-shared decision making
- Recognition and involvement of diverse segments of the population
- Creative mobilization and utilization of community resources
- Projects have significant impact on the community in light of its challenges, resources, and circumstances
- Willingness to confront critical issues; projects address most important needs
- Clearly demonstrated project results
