On Saturday, January 18, at p.m., six-time award-winning author Marty Essen will present “Around the World in 90 Minutes” in the Old Corvallis Gym. The purpose of the event is to raise money to help send the Corvallis Middle School Science Olympiad Team to the Nationals in Orlando, Florida.
“We should all be proud of the Corvallis students for winning the Montana Science Olympiad State Championship,” said Marty Essen. “It’s easy for communities to get behind school athletic teams, but for the majority of students it’s brainpower, not athletic prowess, that will determine their future. And waiting in that future will be a world full of challenges, in need of scientific minds.”
According to Essen, “Around the World in 90 Minutes” is the second most popular slide show of all time (behind Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”), and Marty Essen is one of America’s most frequently booked college speakers. The show features the best of the thousands of photos Marty took while traveling the world for his multi-award-winning book, “Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents.” One part lecture, one part theater, one part slide show, one part comedy—it’s the type of show where the audience has fun laughing at the stories, oohing and aahing at the photos, and then, when it’s all done, they realize just how much they’ve learned.
Essen doesn’t use a lectern when speaking and makes use of the entire stage—sometimes even crawling on the floor. Also, since he mixes information about critical environmental issues and new scientific discoveries with exhilarating globetrotting stories, his audience never feels like they are at a lecture.
“Although colleges from coast to coast pay good money to bring in my show, as a Bitterroot Valley resident, I think it’s important to give back to the local community,” says Essen. “A little over a year ago, I donated a show as a fundraiser for the Bitterroot College science lab. That show was a lot of fun. So when I heard that Corvallis Middle School science students needed to raise $20,000 to go to the Nationals, I jumped at the opportunity to help out. Science is the key to progress!”
Essen has been APCA’s (the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) #1 booked college speaker for 46 total months, and Campus Activities Magazine named him one of their “Hot Speaker” picks for 2011. Following the Corvallis Middle School benefit, Marty will be heading south on a winter tour that will include shows at colleges in Arkansas and Alabama.
“Around the World in 90 Minutes” is recommended for students and adults eight years of age and above. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for students, and kids under 8 are free). Tickets will be sold at the door. For more information contact Amanda Bestor, Corvallis Middle School, 961-3007.