The seats in Decker Auditorium at Iowa Central Community College were filled with fifth and sixth graders Wednesday morning for the performance of the musical ”Newsies.”

About 500 students from the Fort Dodge Middle School were present to enjoy the story of the boys and girls who hawked newspapers in New York City around 1900 during a time of intense competition between publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

The students didn’t have to buy tickets to the show, however. The Fort Dodge Community Schools Foundation spent about $2,500 to pay for all their tickets.

The foundation exists to pay for things that the Fort Dodge Community School District can’t afford. As foundation Director Nik Moser explained, it is ”here for items that don’t necessarily fall in the budget of the school district.”

Often that means the foundation is buying instructional supplies. Paying to send students to a show is a little bit different venture for the foundation, but it’s one that is true to the organization’s mission.

By enabling those fifth and sixth graders to see ”Newsies” the foundation gave them exposure to the performing arts that the school district is unlikely to be able to afford.

”I hope they have fun, first and foremost,” Moser told The Messenger. ”And I hope they walk away with something that they feel like this is an area they can get involved in in school and learn something from it.”

Perhaps one of those middle school students who saw the show Wednesday will be inspired to become an actor, director, script writer or choreographer in the future. The foundation’s gift expanded the horizons of those fifth and sixth graders and may have set them on a path to making great contributions to culture and entertainment.