Help fund Kieara's dream: the musical journey of a liftetime

At the age of 15 Kieara Babcock is working five days a week at Sprockets Fun Foundry in Keystone  to save up for the trip of a lifetime. 

Babcock was a freshman when she was nominated by her teacher, Laura Hagen, for the South Dakota Ambassadors of Music Tour. Nominations are based on maturity, character, leadership and musicianship.

Babcock is excited about the trip, which gives students an opportunity to travel to Europe for 15 days to learn about the cultural aspects of five different countries and give musical performances in each.

Babcock is most excited to visit Germany due to its old architecture, although the trip also includes the UK, Austria, France and Switzerland. 

There are no scholarship or grant opportunities for funding, which makes the hefty $7,600 price tag a bit  of a hurdle for the Babcock family, even with $1,400 payments spread out over two-month intervals.

“We’re gonna do our best,” says mom, Julie, in hopes of fundraising the entire amount. She acknowledges that it is a large amount of money.

But Julie is determined and has already registered her daughter for the trip.

“Any little bit to get her  to be able to represent this area in Europe. Her being the way she is ... smart, A/B student ... she deserves to go,” she said.

The creative musical apple doesn’t fall far from the melodic tree.

Julie taught herself how to play piano before she was in kindergarten because “they told me I couldn’t take piano lessons until I knew how to read,” she said.

“When I was in fifth grade I started with flute. My sixth grade teacher asked me if I could change to saxophone because we had too many flutes,” Julie said. “So I went to alto saxophone and happened to find a tenor sax, bought it and played that all through high school. I taught myself how to play the clarinet because it’s very similar to the saxophone.”

That determination and passion for the arts seems to have trickled down a generation. 

Babcock plays both the flute and piccolo.

“I’ve been playing the flute since fifth grade, piccolo since the sixth,” she says.

Babcock is a sophomore at Hill City High School and said she feels very supported as a Ranger in Hill City  in terms of accessibility to the arts. She participated in the Missoula Children’s theater and was crew for the “Importance of Being Earnest” and was an actor in the one-act play.

Babcock  recently attended a free musical electronics camp at the South Dakota Schools of Mines where she learned how to create a song on the computer and soldered a motherboard into an instrument. She also attends Rushmore music camp, and has been since sixth grade, giving her an opportunity to perform at various locations, including Mount Rushmore.

Babcock sees herself pursuing music in the future and is very dedicated  to the arts as a whole. 

Julie began placing flyers around Keystone asking for donations. And up went donation boxes.

The humble family wasn’t eager to ask for  the donations, but Julie is realistic—she was sending her daughter on this once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing trip, come money or not.

“I’ll take out a loan if I have to. It’s something I never got to do. She has the opportunity to do it. I want her to do it,” Julie said as tears begin to fall down her face. 

The Babcocks have lived in town for eight years. Keystone residents know the family well. Julie works two jobs, one at the Comfort Inn the other at Sprockets Fun Foundry.  She also volunteers her time on the park and library boards.

Dad, Bill, used to be a town trustee and is currently employed at the Keystone Country Store. And  then there is Kieara, sometimes sassy, usually smiling, curious and  always helpful.

Keystone librarian and summer recreation leader Robin Scott says Babcock came to her “pretty young” and has volunteered quite a bit in the library and with summer recreation.

“She always wanted to help me,” Scott says, adding Babcock was always willing to assist when asked.

“She helped with summer rec last year and the kids really seemed to respect her,” Scott said.

She described Babcock as  responsible, very sweet, and as a girl who knows what she likes and what she doesn’t like. 

Sandi McLain, Babcock’s former employer, agrees, saying Babcock still fills in if she needs her to, despite working long hours at Sprockets.

McLain leaves Babcock in charge of the mine during the Haunting of Keystone  and allows her to contribute ideas to the Halloween-themed event.

“She is one of the most responsible kids in the whole town,” McLain said. “She takes ownership and does things to help other people.”

McLain’s Big Thunder Gold Mine also has a donation box set out for Babcock saying, “she is always dragging in others who need help and now she needs our help.”

McLain intends on supporting Babcock’s trip as well. 

In the meantime, besides a donations jar at the Keystone Country Store, owner Sarah Digmann has agreed to sponsor the very first $1,400 payment, due in August. 

“It’s a huge deal for her to go,” said Digmann, who has the donation box visible at the checkout line. “It’s great for her. Every little bit helps; we’ll get her there.”

Digmann said it’s a small community and as a small business owner “we have to support our kids. We need to be the example to the community on how important it is to support the kids from Keystone. Locals are always great to give. We try to do a little bit. This is where we live.”

All donations that come in are kept in a separate account just for this. 

“That’s the account I use to set up her registration so that’s where the deposits will come from,” Julie said. 

Julie’s friends convinced her to set up a GoFundMe page and she admits “it’s a struggle.”

She sees pages that raise “phenomenal amounts of money” for what she calls “stupid” things and then sees this or a sick relative’s family struggling to get even a little momentum. 

Julie persists, though, updating it as much as possible.

“The updates on there have all the places she will go,” Julie said. “The potential itinerary in each country (is there). The schedule of payments is on there as well.”

Julie has been working on craft ideas as a means of fundraising as well. She says her coworkers are ready to step up with silent auction items and fundraising efforts.

The trip is June 2025 and so far the Babcocks have raised about $1,800 toward their goal.

Anyone wishing to help Kieara can stop by the Country Store or Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone to make a donation into the jar. Or visit the GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/f/fund-kiearas-dream-the-musical-journey-of-a-lifetime.