Hinkletown Mennonite School

Maddy Hamilton

7th Grade

Madeleine Hamilton, who is called Maddy, is 12 years old, and attends Hinkletown Mennonite School and Terre Hill Bible Fellowship Church. Her parents are Michael and Emily Hamilton, she has one older brother named Arthur and two younger brothers named Teddy and Jonny. In her free time, she enjoys reading, singing, and relaxing, but her favorite hobby is playing sports.

Two of Maddy’s favorite sports are basketball and ultimate Frisbee. She played basketball on Hinkletown’s school team the past two seasons. She is good at dribbling the ball down the court and shooting hoops, earning points for her team. Maddy also enjoys ultimate Frisbee, and she plays at her church with her youth group, but she also likes to play in gym class. She throws quick passes to her teammates, and she runs down the field as fast as possible trying to catch the soaring Frisbee. As much as she loves Frisbee and basketball, Maddy loves one sport even more: gymnastics.

Every Thursday afternoon, Maddy hits the gym at C3 Gymnastics in Sinking Spring. She started taking classes two years ago and desires to get better at the sport. She has learned many tricks there including a backbend, round-off, one handed cartwheel, and a front walkover. Although Maddy does not attend competitions, she very much enjoys being part of the Shooting Stars and Junior Tumbling. Maddy loves it because it is lots of fun and it is a Christian environment.

Maddy loves Frisbee, basketball, and gymnastics, and she is always working on becoming a better person.

Written by: Rachel Weaver

Jeremiah Knowles

8th Grade

Woosh! He has it, he’s almost there, TOUCHDOWN! Jeremiah Knowles has done it again. A flawless run! Jeremiah Knowles is an excellent quarterback who plays more than just one sport – not only football, but also basketball, baseball, volleyball, and track! He really enjoys being active. His family is very important to him, and they love to be active with him.

Jeremiah has six siblings and is the son of Dave and Janina Knowles. He enjoys hiking and biking with his family when they can all be together. They all attend The Living Room Church, where he enjoys youth group and growing in the Word of God. When Jeremiah has time, he loves fishing with his cousins, brother, and dad. Just the satisfaction of knowing he caught a fish is enough to put a smile on his face. At other times he likes to build things. Jeremiah and his brother have just finished an obstacle for their Ninja Warrior obstacle course! He says he enjoys just seeing random pieces of junk turned into something unique. With his interest in building and his active lifestyle, it makes sense that he excels in his favorite subjects at school: math, science, and gym class.

Although Jeremiah does not know right now what he wants to do when he graduates, he does know he will be going to Ephrata High School after he finishes 8th grade at Hinkletown Mennonite School, and he hopes to keep being active by traveling around the world.

Written by: Sarah Benedick

Rachel Landes

7th Grade

Rachel Landes is 12 years old and is in seventh grade at Hinkletown Mennonite School. She is the daughter of Chris and Dawn Landes, has two siblings, Nathan and Malise, and goes to Habecker Mennonite Church. She has two gerbils and a cat named Dobby. Rachel is very creative in her music and her art, which are two of her favorite things, but she also uses her creativity to write stories.

Rachel loves to play the multiple instruments that she is great at playing, including the ukulele and the piano. Soon she hopes to learn the guitar as a third instrument. She also loves to sing and is in the Chamber Choir, which is the best choir a student can get into at her school. Outside of school, Rachel is part of Mennonite Children’s Choir of Lancaster.

Rachel loves to draw almost everything, and her immense creativity helps her do it. People, anime, doodles, and cats are some of her favorite things to draw. She sometimes uses watercolors to give her pictures a splash of color. Rachel can do great things with a pencil in her hand, and not just drawing.

Rachel is almost always writing a very creative story. If someone asks her what she is writing, she can tell them all about her unique characters, uncommon settings, and fascinating storylines. She has been given multiple awards for her brilliant writing and creativity, especially for her short story “The Burrito’s Farewell.”

In the future, Rachel would like to use her creativity to be an artist, an author, or a composer, any of which she would excel at. Rachel is very creative in her music and her art, and she will continue to use the gifts God has given her in amazing and important ways.

Written by: Melina Beidler

Matthew Smoker

7th Grade

If there is ever a question about history, there is no doubt that Matthew Smoker would be the first to step up and help. During the weekend Matthew attends New Joy Fellowship Church with his parents Tom and Robin Smoker and his four older siblings, but during the weekdays Matthew goes to Hinkletown Mennonite School as an eighth grader who loves taking history class there.

Matthew loves everything about history, and that is why he would love to be a park ranger when he grows up. Becoming a park ranger would be a dream come true for Matthew Smoker. One of the main reasons that he would love to become a park ranger is that he could be around everything that he loves. Another reason is that he would get to go to places that are very significant in history, and that is very important to him. He hopes to go to Gettysburg or Geneva College so he can pursue his dream. He loves to show people around different places and tell them information about each place. He likes to share his knowledge with others, so that they can learn as well.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that Matthew Smoker loves anything and everything about history.

Written by: Maddie Stauffer

Emma Musser

8th Grade

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” That quote is one of Emma Musser’s favorites. Emma is blessed with two loving parents, Jeff and Mary Musser, who are always by her side. She has a cool big bro and a sweet little dog. She attends Bowmansville Mennonite Church every Sunday and Hinkletown Mennonite School every weekday. She will be staying at HMS for the Venture Program in high school because she thinks it will be good for her. She has plenty of hobbies that will keep her occupied through the school year. They are the ukulele, volleyball, and one that leads to her dream, cooking.

Emma’s dream is to be a jolly chef. Her mom likes helping her succeed at that dream by handing over supper duty to her for some nights. Emma enjoys that duty because she likes making regular food better than desserts. Her family loves whatever she bakes. They really love it when she makes a dessert to go with it since her desserts make everyone’s mouth water for a whole week! Emma has a dream that she will definitely succeed.

Emma’s dream is to be a chef, but not a fancy one. She would not want all that pressure on her. Instead, she would much rather work for a little corner cafe in the city. She would make a lot of food and desserts that would be better than any other cafe. She would talk to all her customers and make them all feel welcomed with her smile.

Emma is a great person and an awesome friend. If someone feels down and needs encouragement, all they need to do is talk to Emma. Her smile will brighten your day, but her cooking can brighten your year.

Written by: Valerie Martin

Jaeden Akinin

8th Grade

Jaeden Akinin is a sporty 8th grader who loves laughing with his friends at Hinkletown Mennonite School. He is the oldest of two boys in his family, and his parents are Ivan and Nadia Akinin. They attend Ephrata Community Church every Sunday. One of Jaeden’s hobbies is fishing. He and his dad go fishing quite often, and they both enjoy it a lot, but he also likes to make time for playing and training for soccer. Maybe one day he will play soccer professionally.

Most professional soccer players didn’t just get to play professionally with a snap of their fingers; they had to work hard. Jaeden does all that he can to prepare for all his games and stay active throughout the year. He plays on two teams, one for his school team and one for Lititz. When he does not have practice or a game, he does his own training or goes to the gym. One of his teammates, Clydde Bowman, says, “He could definitely do it, but he would work hard and really want it.” His coaches also think anything is possible and that Jaeden would be a great leader on his team. Another thing Jaeden did to help him train, was going to Germany to play soccer. He really liked it and would want to go back to play professionally there.

Jaeden is a very determined young man who has big dreams and will do whatever it takes to make this image he has in his head, to be a professional soccer player, happen.

Written by: Alayna Regitz

Hannah Jacke

8th Grade

Hannah Jacke is in 8th grade and attends Hinkletown Mennonite School where she enjoys playing the cello in the orchestra. Hannah lives with her parents, Bethany and Steve Jacke, and her older brother Daniel. She and her family go to Ridgeview Mennonite Church where she attends youth group and enjoys the games they play there. One of Hannah’s many interests is animals, both real and imaginary.

Hannah enjoys interacting with animals in many different ways. At home, Hannah takes care of two dogs, one bunny, chickens, and a small parrot. She also likes to take care of and hold the leopard gecko named Erza in the science classroom at school. Hannah especially likes to read books about animals, and she enjoys reading the book Wings of Fire because it is about dragons. She is a talented artist and likes drawing very detailed dragons, dogs, cats, and bunnies. Because she likes animals, Hannah wants to go to college to study zoology and get a job as a zoologist working with exotic animals.

Hannah is very loving and caring to people, she is a good student, and she will be good at working with animals or people in her future.

Written by: Joshua Welch

Paul Hurst

8th Grade

If a friend would ask Paul to work with him during free time, Paul would most likely say, “Sorry! I’m busy!” because Paul Hurst is very busy. He is busy with his family, Nevin and Melissa Hurst, and his three older sisters, Emma, Alarie, and Maddie. He is also very busy at Hinkletown Mennonite School with his many extracurricular activities.

Paul participates in seven extracurricular activities! He is musically gifted and therefore is part of senior band, Chamber choir, and worship team at HMS. His musical activities, senior band and Chamber Choir, meet once or twice a week. He plays saxophone and drums in senior band and sings tenor in Chamber choir. These musical activities are led by Mrs. Cunalata, the music teacher at Hinkletown. Paul also played his saxophone in Intermezzo Winds. He is also in worship team at his family’s church, Weaverland Anabaptist Faith Community

Paul is also athletically gifted and plays volleyball, basketball, soccer, and track. His favorite out of these is basketball. In volleyball he is in center position, he was a shooting guard in basketball last year, and he plays midfield in soccer. In track last year, he ran a mile in 5 minutes and 49 seconds! Mr. Weaver, the gym teacher at HMS, coaches some of those sports. He commended Paul for being a good team player and always looking for ways to include his teammates. These sports usually meet three times a week, which keeps Paul very busy all year round.

In conclusion, Paul is a busy young man with many interests and abilities and a bright hope for the future. Hopefully one of these extracurricular activities will lead to a lifelong career for Paul!

Written by: Caeley Zimmerman