Up With People World Tour Makes Stop In Zionsville

One hundred students from across the United States and the world are spending the week in Zionsville, living with families, volunteering with students and preparing a musical variety show for the public this weekend.

The nonprofit group Up With People includes young adults aged  17-29 who will travel the world sharing their talents.  Marketing Director Isaiah McGregor says their journey started in Denver.

“They spent the last four weeks there doing what we call staging or our orientation period, just where we’re learning about the organization , about the people, getting to know the steps of the show, our songs and everything we are going to be taking on the road with us for the next six months," McGregor says.

Those six months include performances on the east coast, then Mexico, Germany, and the Netherlands before a final show for  Pope Francis in Rome.

Nineteen-year-old Eesa is from Sweden and thrilled to be a member of the traveling troupe.

“I had just ended high school and I love performing and traveling and volunteering so it was the perfect match for me,” she says.

Twenty-year-old Casey is from Ireland.

“I think I’ll take away everything that I learned especially about people from other cultures because I get to live with whole families here and you really get immersed in the culture here, things you wouldn’t know if you were just visiting or staying in a hotels," Casey says. "It gives you a great understanding of people in the world which is very important to me I think.”

Up With People will put on two shows, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Zionsville Performing Arts Center. You can get tickets at the door or online at  www.upwithpeople.org/Zionsville