This 19-year-old won a local award for her theater + Scouts BSA volunteer work

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The kids aren’t just all right—they’re making their community a better place.

Recently, 19-year-old Rachel Oppmann drove down to Huntsville to receive a top-notch local award from Redstone Federal Credit Union for her theater and Scouts BSA volunteer work. Read on to learn about how she is shaping her community.

Why she won Redstone’s Community Champion Award

Meet Rachel

Originally born in Wisconsin, Rachel grew up in Murfreesboro, just two hours from Huntsville.

Her love for theater started when she was a young girl and performed in a show with her older sisters.

“I remember being really little and seeing the audience right in front of me. I loved the thrill of performing and truly found it so much fun.

I knew I wanted to keep going with theater because I was enjoying it and making friends.”

Rachel Oppmann

However, Rachel didn’t realize that her love for theater would eventually morph into a career choice.

“I was captain of my robotics team in middle and high school and always thought I’d study engineering.

However, when I started applying for colleges, I realized that I was prioritizing the universities with good theater programs. The thought of giving up performing made me realize I wanted to major in theater.”

Rachel Oppmann

Rachel is currently a freshman at Middle Tennessee State University.

Cultivating the local arts scene

Although Rachel is only a freshman in college, she caught Redstone Federal Credit Union’s eye for the countless volunteer hours she had dedicated to her local arts scene.

To date, she’s been in approximately 30 shows—11 of which have taken place at the Arts Center of Cannon County in Tennessee. Some of her favorite productions have been Alice by Heart, Urinetown and Into the Woods.

Along with performing in shows, Rachel has also contributed significant time to the Arts Center by doing technical work backstage. She even designed a 3D customized diorama to make creating sets easier, more efficient and less costly for smaller productions.

She also works as the student representative on the board for the Arts Center of Cannon County.

“If we didn’t have the Rachels of the world, this place would not survive. She’s always willing to do whatever you ask.

She is helpful, kind and thoughtful in everything she does. We depend strongly on volunteers like Rachel.”

Renee Robinson, Chief Operating Officer for the Arts Center of Cannon County

Redstone Federal Credit Union loves to share the good happening in Huntsville—check out their Community Champion series.

Making positive changes as a woman in Scouts BSA

As if Rachel wasn’t busy enough creating theater sets and performing, she’s also dedicated significant volunteer hours to Scouts BSA.

Growing up, she participated in Girl Scouts but didn’t feel quite at home. However, in 2019, Scouts BSA started letting girls into the program. At the urging of her father—a former Eagle Scout—Rachel decided to give it a shot.

Through being in Scouts BSA, Rachel developed valuable leadership skills and learned the importance of giving back to her community. Here are just a few of the projects in which she participated:

• Flag retirement ceremonies
• Food drives
• Local building cleanups
• Memorial Day flag ceremonies
• Trail reconstruction
• Trash cleanups

Although Rachel has aged out of Scouts BSA, she still works with the council to recruit new members. Her primary goal is to cultivate diversity by creating more opportunities for young girls in the program.

Check out Redstone’s Community Champions series

When Rachel learned that Redstone named her one of their Community Champions, she was thrilled.

“I was so overjoyed to see that I was named a Community Champion. Standing by the other Community Champions at the ceremony in Huntsville, I almost felt out of place because of the great things they had done and because of how young I was.

But, I felt honored to see that Redstone recognized the little—not just big—things people are doing to make our communities better. I was also really happy to see that Redstone honors young people who are trying to make the world a better place.”

Rachel Oppmann

Want to learn about the other Community Champions making a difference in Huntsville? Check out Redstone Federal Credit Union’s full series.

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