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Scout finds gold in children’s play

“The Fairy Tale Network” will hit the stage at 7 p.m. tonight at the Fairmont Opera House.

The cast is comprised of children leaving grades K-2, and it has all been organized by 15-year-old Izzy Munsch for her Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can earn.

Munsch, who will be a junior at Fairmont High School in the fall, explained that there is a Children’s Theater program locally for students leaving grades 3-8, as well as Civic Summer Theater for everyone older. But there is not a program available to younger children.

“The original program for [grades] 3-8 works very well,” Munsch noted. “The shows are always really good. But the younger kids don’t get any experience, so I wanted to help create an appreciation for theater when they’re young.”

There are more than 30 children in the play. They have been practicing for three hours three days this week, with the only performance scheduled for tonight. Tickets will be available at the door.

Munsch has been in Girl Scouts since she was in first grade. She is a member of Troop 33078. After she graduates high school, she plans to obtain her lifetime Girl Scout membership.

In order to be eligible for the Gold Award, which is not something many girls try to obtain, Scouts must have received the Silver Award and one senior or ambassador leadership journey, or have completed two senior or ambassador leadership journeys.

Two summers ago, Munsch received her Silver Award by recording about 60 audio books to give to children who were not yet able to read.

“Not everybody goes for the bronze or silver either,” she noted. “But if you’re ambitious or feel passionate about something, then you can use that to get yourself bronze or silver or gold.”

For the Gold Award, a community issue needs to be chosen and researched.

“I wanted to do something that I’m really passionate about,” Munsch said. “There are so many things that need to be addressed in our community, but this was one thing that I thought I could understand and really relate to.

“When I graduate high school, I want to do musical theater as a major. I actually figured out that I really liked theater when I was in Children’s Theater so that’s why I thought we could keep building this so more kids can realize that they really love this like I did.”

Last fall, Munsch met with Blake Potthoff, director of the Opera House, and told him she wanted to do something with theater for her Gold Award project. They came up with the idea for a theater program for younger kids. Throughout this last year, several meetings were held to plan everything.

Next, a team needs to be built in order to help carry out the project. The plan needs to be brought to the Girl Scout Council for approval, and then the plan needs to be carried out with at least 80 hours spent on the project.

Munsch’s team includes her adviser, Potthoff; Girl Scout leaders Karen Munsch, Kayla Green and Nancy Klemek; play directors Emma Koehler and Eric Head; and Dia LeFebvre and Heidi Thomas, who work at the Opera House.

Munsch said there also are some other Girl Scout members and friends who have been helping out, along with some volunteers operating the lights and sound.

In order to make the project possible, some donations were given by Kiwanis, Rotary and the Rosen Foundation. Munsch said the money is going toward T-shirts that will be given to the children in the play, to advertise the show and for office supplies for flyers. Hy-Vee donated snacks for the children to have during play practice.

Since Munsch’s ultimate goal is to see her program exist and thrive in Fairmont, she met with the Children’s Theater committee.

“They are going to take it under their Children’s Theater wing and make sure that it continues to happen by finding directors and helpers and things like that,” she said. “It will basically run like the program for older kids but just a little different.

“Once the idea was set in stone and we knew this was going to happen, they had faith in it. I have a feeling it will stay here for a while. By looking at how many kids signed up for it this year, which was the first year, I have a feeling it’s going to do great.”

After the performance, Munsch plans to hold a wrap-up meeting with the directors and others involved to go over what went well and what di not, and then give the information to the Children’s Theater committee so it can make adjustments where needed.

To earn the Gold Award, Munsch must submit a final report to the Girl Scout Council, sharing what she has experienced with others and describing the effectiveness of her project. Although undertaking a new project, especially one dealing with so many young children can be challenging, Munsch explained that it is been rewarding.

“I thought it would be stressful, but once I got here and all the kids were here and we started working it was fine,” she said. “The volunteers and my team have been great. The kids are here to have a good time and they’re having fun and that’s all I wanted was for them to have fun and get this experience.”

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