Ironwood Ridge High School students will travel across the country this spring to take part in a leadership program and a national competition.
Ironwood sophomores Austin Heisterman and Gianna Joseph and juniors Sarina Calzadillas and Mckenzie Harrison were awarded scholarships to attend the Spirit of America Youth Leadership Program in Pennsylvania in April.
The program stresses the need for youth to embrace the values and practices essential to responsible citizenship, and includes a mock congress, a free-enterprise challenge and other leadership skill activities.
The trip is funded by donations to Freedoms Foundation-Tucson from individuals and the Crane Family Foundation.
Ironwood Ridge senior Tristan Odenkirk will also be heading to New York in May for the national Shakespeare competition.
Odenkirk took first place in the 31st annual Southern Arizona contest earlier this month.
The 18-year-old beat nearly two dozen other high-schoolers with the monologue “What a piece of work is a man” from Act II of “Hamlet.”
The all-expenses paid trip is sponsored by the English-Speaking Union, an organization dedicated to clear communication across all borders.
Nicolle Chavez of Rincon High School took second place, and third place went to Feliz Torralba of Tucson High Magnet School.
Up for grabs in New York is a six-week study trip in England.
