For the City Times 

PORT EDWARDS — For 15-year-old Megan Shields, of Port Edwards, dreams do come true.

Shields was selected as an Understudy as a singer/dancer with the KIDS From Wisconsin after successfully performing at February’s auditions. She just completed the intense 16-day training camp and was offered and accepted a “female swing position” opening.

With just a couple of days to prepare to “Head Out on the Highway” (this year’s theme for the show), Shields will travel nearly 6,000 miles with the troupe the next three months, performing in over 35 communities.

Megan Shields. (Courtesy: Arts Council/Wm Nieman)

She has just completed her freshman year at John Edwards High School in Port Edwards, and is not new to the stage, as she’s been dancing since she was four. She currently takes tap, jazz, modern, musical theatre, ballet, and pointe classes and voice lessons at Rapids School of Performing Arts.

She has performed the National Anthem multiple times over the past few years at Wisconsin Rapids Rafters’ games and has been a featured soloist in her school’s choir. Shields participated in many local and state WSMA Solo & Ensemble events and State Honors Choir and All Star Band this past year. She is excited to be selected for this position and the experience that will be provided with this professional organization.

Shields may be living proof that you truly can “Realize Your Dream,” which, ironically, is the title of the outreach workshop that the KIDS present throughout the summer. As has been done the past three years, the “Realize Your Dream Outreach Program” will be held the afternoon of July 17.

“The Wisconsin Rapids outreach was significantly larger than any outreach we have done,” said Tina Weiss, Executive Director of Kids from Wisconsin. “It was fantastic, with 140 at our largest outreach in 2015.”

KIDS troupe members “pay it forward” by teaching performance skills and tools that can be carried into daily life. Registration for this workshop may be done through www.kidsfromwisconsin.org/ and selecting the July 17 workshop at the PAC. This is a free, one-hour hands-on performing arts workshop designed for youth ages 7-13.

You can catch the live performance on July 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center of Wisconsin Rapids located at 1801 16th St. South.