Morgantown/Honey Brook townlively.com
JANUARY 17, 2024
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health
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXI • NO 50
wellness
The Torch to host open mic night anniversary BY FRANCINE FULTON
The Roland Zimmerman Family will celebrate the 12th anniversary of its open mic night at The Torch Community Center in Morgantown on Sunday, Feb. 4. Registration for participating
musicians will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by live music at 7 p.m. Open mic began more than a decade ago when Zimmerman approached Ed Kurtz, director of The Torch, for permission to host the event. “My family sang at retirement See The Torch pg 4
Hannah Beckman (third from left) teaches first- and second-grade students at Honey Brook Christian Academy.
HBCA provides a unique learning experience BY FRANCINE FULTON
“Hands-on activities are really important to us.”
of the traditional subjects, and students take part in outdoor recess in the school playground behind the church. “ We have Bible class, which is required. However, we are teaching creation, and that has an impact on the way that we teach science,” said Stoltzfus. “We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is true, so that speaks a lot to history because the Bible has a lot of history in it.” One of the school’s focuses is to aid students who need help in specific school subjects they might not have excelled at in the past. “We have around 30 students, and we have 10 teachers,” noted Stoltzfus. “They are not all fulltime, but one of the things that we try to really provide is individualized instruction for remedial students.” At lunchtime, children enjoy a meal together. “We have a kitchen, and we have volunteer cooks that See HBCA pg 3
Roland Zimmerman (right) and his son, Ryan, perform during open mic night at The Torch.
Chester County 4-H members take part in Day of Sewing BY FRANCINE FULTON
Members of Chester County 4-H recently joined the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Sewing Guild (ASG) for a Community Service Day of Sewing, during which participants made pillowcases for hospitalized children. T he Day of Sewing was held simultaneously at three locations, including in west
Philadelphia and at St. James Lutheran Church in Pottstown. The local event took place at the Chester County 4-H Penn State Extension office, located in the Chester County Government Ser vices Center in West Chester. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 6, 4-H members and club leaders were invited to join guild members in making pillowcases , which will be See Day of Sewing pg 5
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explained that HBCA began in 2008 as a homeschool ministry for a local family. Additional students began to take part, and the ministry continued to expand and grow. In 2011, the church invited HBCA to use the building, so the school became a reg istered pr ivate school and nonprofit organization. The curriculum includes all
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ne of the first things that a visitor may notice when entering Honey Brook Christian Academy (HBCA) is a secure locker in the main hall where students are required to keep their cellphones during the school day. There are also no brown bag lunches at HBA; rather, students share a homecooked meal each day served buffet-style in the school lunchroom. Additionally, students are also responsible for helping to clean their school, vacuuming and performing other weekly housekeeping duties. These are just some of the aspects of HBC A that make it a unique place to educate children in kindergarten through grade 12. The school, housed at Rockville Mennonite Church, 210 Cupola Road, Honey Brook, currently serves students who
come from Honey Brook and the Coatesville Area School District, although public busing is provided for students who live in Pequea Valley, Daniel Boone, Owen J. Roberts, Octorara and ELANCO school districts. Peter Stoltzfus, who is in his eighth year as principal,