Brittany Weaver
7th Grade

Brittany Weaver is the kind of girl who loves sports and action. Brittany is in 7th grade and is 13 years old. Her parents are Scott and Dawn Weaver. Brittany has a twin sister named Bethany and also has two other siblings, Victoria and Randy. Brittany and her siblings attend Hinkletown Mennonite School and her family are members at Hinkletown Mennonite Church. Brittany is athletic and she loves sports.

Brittany plays many sports like soccer, basketball, cross country/track, and volleyball, but her favorite is basketball. When she plays basketball, her main position is point guard. Brittany is fast and she can shoot the ball well. To be point guard you have to be fast and able to dribble the ball well and Brittany covers all these spots. Brittany is also a great team player and is a good sport.

When Brittany plays soccer it’s amazing because she plays everywhere but she says, “I like mid because I have the freedom to run around.” Being a good player at mid also requires the same skills as a point guard in basketball. Brittany excels at all sports, and she is so good that she plays on both the boys and girls soccer team.

Aside from sports, Brittany is also a well-rounded student. She does well in academics and is also interested in drama. She had a role in the school play both this year and last year. Brittany is also kind and a great friend.

Written by: Caleb Leaman

Rebecca Hoover
7th Grade

Rebecca Hoover is a future star. She was born on March 2, 2000, to her parents Roy and Joy Hoover. She is in 7th grade and she has three siblings: Rachel, Joel, and Julia. Rebecca has attended Hinkletown Mennonite School since her kindergarten year in 2005-2006 and she goes to Metzler Mennonite Church with her family. Rebecca is a very creative person. She enjoys bright colors and animals, especially her dog named Minnie.

Rebecca’s favorite hobbies include singing and acting, and she has the dream of being a famous movie star. To get practice for her dream, she is part of the Hinkletown Middle School Select Choir. She sings alto. “Wow!” Mrs. Landis, the HMS music teacher said after Rebecca finished her Select Choir tryout at the beginning of the year.

Rebecca also participated in the HMS drama by playing the silly wife of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood this year, and she played the part of Monique, a bald French woman, in Pollyanna last year. When Rebecca was in elementary school, she loved to be in the plays for the Christmas program. The first year she was a 50’s dancer, and the year after she played as an angel named Sofie.

Rebecca is a star. She’s one of those people who is good at almost everything. Her star quality shines through in all of her activities. That is the fun and creative life of Rebecca Hoover.

Written by: Bethany Weaver

Mitchell Zook
8th Grade

Who in Hinkletown Mennonite Middle School is 13, loves horses and drawing, and would like to be an industrial designer when he grows up? The answer is 8th grader Mitchell Zook, son of Kim and Floyd Zook, who attend Good Shepherd Community Church. Mitchell Zook has a lot of hobbies including drawing and designing things, which he plans to use to become an industrial designer.

Mitchell wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his future until about 7th grade. He decided he wanted to be an industrial designer because he loves drawing and designing things. Industrial designers make the things we use every day such as cars, sporting goods, tools, and computers. They also come up with better ways for people to live and for businesses to work. Mitchell wants to make things that will help people accomplish things that they couldn’t do before. A person who is creative, curious, and wants to make new connections is a great advantage in this profession, so Mitchell will make a great industrial designer.

Drawing and designing things are not the only things Mitchell enjoys doing. He also likes to be outdoors and go to the cabin, ride four-wheelers, and hunt. So since he likes being outdoors, perhaps he will create things for the outdoors when he becomes an industrial designer.

Industrial design is growing rapidly in its influence on culture, so what Mitchell creates as an industrial designer could change lives. But for now, he is working hard in art class and his schoolwork, so he will be prepared when he enters that profession.

Written by: Sari Smoker

Brynn Youndt
8th Grade

Brynn Youndt is 14 years old and is in 8th grade at Hinkletown Mennonite School. Her parents are Vince and Amy and they go to Alive Church. She has three siblings: Brady, Rylee, and Drew. Some of Brynn’s favorite things to do are drama and art.

Brynn loves drama. She scored a big role when she played Nancy in last year’s Hinkletown drama production of Pollyanna, and she will be playing Lady Merle in this year’s Robin Hood, coming up on March 1-2. “It is something to look forward to,” she said. Her favorite play was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer when she played Mrs. Harper as a sixth grader.

Brynn also likes art. Her favorite art project was when she made a unicorn out of trash. The assignment was to make something out of thrown out garbage. She made the horn out of bottle caps and the legs out of paper towel rolls. Brynn also likes working with clay. In art class she made a cylinder out of clay slabs, and she said this is one of her pieces that she is most proud of. Another piece of art that she is proud of is a flower she drew in fifth grade. She said that she thinks it turned out way better then she expected.

Because of her natural ability, Brynn could be the next Michelangelo or Tom Cruise, so watch out for her in the future if you go to the movies or the art museum.”

Written by: Braydon Martin

Kayleen Martin
7th Grade

Kayleen Martin is a 7th grade middle schooler at the age of 12, currently attending Hinkletown Mennonite School. She is the daughter of Tim and Christine Martin and a resident of Schoeneck. She also attends Middle Creek Church of the Brethren. She had an extreme experience of major sicknesses that led to her plan for the future.

First of all, when Kayleen was in the 4th grade at the age of 10, she started getting sicknesses. She knew this was not just going to be a small thing because there was a chain of sicknesses. Here is the order of the sicknesses she endured: fever, strep throat, mono, and chronic fatigue syndrome. After this, she had to use a wheel chair and then a walker. She had to miss a massive amount of school! Through most of this, she got help from a physical therapist. That’s when her big plan for her future started to develop.

Up next, she has a plan for the future. She got a lot of help from a physical therapist, which is why she wants to be one when she gets older. She knows it is a hard job and will take a lot of work, but that will not make her back down, just like she got through her other long list of sicknesses.

Kayleen has gone through a lot, but she has a plan to get that job, and it sounds like she is going to stick to it! Kayleen says, “You should always stick with your troubles and persevere.”

Written by: Elliot Esh

Caleb Leaman
7th Grade

Caleb Leaman was born a player. He can act, he can play sports, and he is a Phillies fan. He was born to Ruth and Phil Leaman on February 2, 2000 (Groundhog Day). He has two sisters and one brother: Jacob, Emily, and Elizabeth. He currently attends East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster and goes to Hinkletown Mennonite School as a 12-year-old, 7th grade athlete.

In his sports career, Caleb has played a variety of different sports: soccer, softball, basketball, and baseball. His soccer skill comes from his dad who was very good at soccer in high school and college. In the future Caleb hopes to play lacrosse since he and his dad have been practicing for a while and are getting good at it.

As far as his acting goes, he does great on stage. He did a wonderful job last year in Hinkletown Mennonite School’s play Pollyanna; he acted as the character Jimmy Bean, a young, spunky orphan that eventually gets adopted by Mr. Pendleton, an older character in the play. His character also was the narrator, and Caleb did very well under the pressure of speaking directly to the audience.

To sum Caleb up in a single word, it would be courageous, because like Moses, he is not afraid, as he showed in the play. Caleb is someone who can act and play sports and that’s why he’s a player.

Written by: Brittany Weaver

Sari Smoker
8th Grade

Sari Smoker is athletic, outgoing, and values her relationship with God. Sari is in 8th grade at Hinkletown Mennonite School, her parents are Ben and Kathy Smoker, and their family attends church at the Worship Center. Sari enjoys doing numerous activities, but one of her favorite things to do is be outdoors and playing with her animals.

Sari loves anything to do with the outdoors or animals. She likes training animals and tells stories about her experiences. One of her ponies got out three times in a row, and all three times they found her at their neighbor’s barn. But that was not the only time that one of their animals got out. When one of their bunnies got out, the pony started chasing it.

Training and playing with her animals is not the only thing that Sari likes to do outside. She enjoys sports. One of Sari’s favorite sports is basketball, and she is on the basketball team at Hinkletown Mennonite School. She also enjoys hunting and fishing. She enjoys hunting because she gets to spend quality time with her dad, and she also spends outdoor time with her family at the cabin.

One of Sari’s goals is to become a missionary, and Sari also plans to be a nurse to help people around the world. She would also like to go site seeing while on missions and see all the different climates and cultures around the world.

Written by: Mitchell Zook

Braydon Martin
8th Grade

It might not be unusual to be a hunter or fisherman here in Lancaster County, and since Braydon Martin is known to be very avid in these areas, he is definitely a true Lancaster County citizen.

Braydon Martin is a 13-year-old in 8th grade at Hinkletown Mennonite School. He is the son of Kent and Cindy Martin and attends Glad Tidings with his parents and three siblings, Kelsey, Marshall, and Colton. Outside of hunting and fishing, Braydon’s hobbies include playing guitar for the school worship team, baseball, basketball, and airsoft battles with his friends. But when Braydon wants to get away from it all, he does what he likes to do most of all: hunt and fish.

Braydon has been hunting since he was seven years old, so he has quite a bit of experience. He goes hunting near his house and at his cabin in Mifflinburg. Braydon’s favorite part of hunting is finally shooting something worth the long, quiet, and cold wait. He is very proud of the doe he shot last year during archery season.

Braydon also enjoys fishing at his house and his cabin. The biggest thing he ever caught was a 40-inch striper over the summer of 2012. He remembers feeling proud and as if he had accomplished something big.

Braydon hopes to always be involved in sports, whether it’s hunting, baseball, or airsoft battles. No matter where he decides to go with his life, Braydon will always feel the same about hunting.

Written by: Brynn Youndt