STERLING – Midnight Thursday is the deadline to participate in Sterling’s community perception survey, designed to help the city shape its image.

In the survey, available at sterling-il.gov, participants are asked about Sterling’s most desirable characteristics, what brings and keeps people in the community and what can be improved upon.

The survey became available Jan. 7; as of Tuesday afternoon, 272 people had completed it, said Hadley Skeffington-Vos, assistant to City Manager Scott Shumard. In addition to Sterling, they hailed from Rock Falls, Fulton, Dixon, Chadwick, Morrison, Rockford, Como, Byron and Galt, as well as Florida, Arizona and the United Kingdom, she said.