The Beacon

A student-run newspaper for homeschoolers

The Beacon at Excelsior Classes is a student-run newspaper which helps high school homeschool students develop journalism skills as they research, write, edit and publish a monthly newspaper distributed to homeschool students and families. The newspaper content is mainly news and feature articles about faculty and students taking classes at Excelsior Classes. Above all, its purpose is to uphold Godly standards as students learn the art and craft of journalism.

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September 2020

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2020-2021 Staff

These twenty homeschool students from all over the United States are a talented group of students with a variety of skills, backgrounds and interests coming together as a team for one school year. The Beacon staffers learn to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards, while working under deadline pressure in a collaborative environment to produce a newspaper that is both glorifying to God and of benefit and interest to its readers.

Bella Buonincontri

Isabella Buonincontri lives with her family of five. She is looking forward to serving on the Beacon this year as a news reporter. She enjoys school, playing with her siblings, sports, reading, and of course writing. She has always loved animals, especially dogs. Her parents let the children pick out bunnies for Christmas last year. They named them White Lightning, Moca, and Coco. With the help of their dad the siblings built cages for the bunnies, so they could have a fun place to play. Writing has been a piece of Bella’s life since she was five. She has written two books. The first was a children’s book inspired by her love for dogs. The second was inspired by her pet bunny, Moca. It is about animals with superpowers. Writing has always been a way for her to escape the real world and allows her to imagine a life where everything is so much simpler. Bella feels writing has been a natural talent for her because it comes easily to her; yet she enjoys raising the bar for herself by going above and beyond the writing projects her mom gives her.

Vincenzo Buonincontri

Vincenzo Buonincontri has always enjoyed using his imagination to build things, whether with Legos or in “Minecraft. He has constructed three cardboard robots over the years. He has a bunny named White Lighting that he got before the Christmas of 2019. He is Assistant Senior Patrol Leader in his Boy Scouts troop. He is also a Life scout working toward Eagle. He is writing a book series that he calls “Dark Magic.” He has read the entire “Harry Potter” series, as well as the “Percy Jackson” series. He has seen all 9 “Star Wars” movies as well as the back stories such as “Solo” and “Rogue One.” He has been homeschooled since 3rd grade. His favorite singers include Toby Mac, NewsBoys, Mandisa, and Bon Jovi. His favorite subject in school has always been science. He also enjoys a good day at the range, believing “If the floor is covered with shells it’s been a good day.”

Brianna Crawford

Brianna, a news reporter for The Beacon, is a bibliophile who loves reading her favorite books many times over. She has several playful sisters who cook up all sorts of mischief with her. They have invented quite a few games, including their favorite, “Unfeeling Reporter.” In this acting game, one person pretends to be a nosy television reporter. They occasionally write a script in advance and film it for posterity. Brianna also enjoys all sorts of crafting. She likes crocheting the best, and has made hats, scarves, and blankets. She can also sew both by hand and machine. Once Brianna and her sister made a pioneer-inspired quilt together, sewn completely by hand. Some other arts she has attempted but never mastered include making notebooks, jewelry making, carving stamps, and making miniatures. She has sold her slime to neighbor children, and brings some along as a fun surprise to babysitting jobs. Brianna thinks it is extremely satisfying to create something and then use it. As a staff member at The Beacon, some of Brianna’s goals are learning how to write concise sentences, meeting word counts, and not beginning every sentence with a dependent clause.

Chelsea Crawford

Chelsea lives in a peaceful Texas neighborhood with her family. She has four sisters (one being a staff member at The Beacon as well) and a dog named Twix. Chelsea enjoys writing, directing, filming, and acting in comedy videos that she produces with her sisters. She also reads and occasionally writes satire about the church and everyday life. Chelsea loves listening to hymns and southern gospel. Some of her favorite artists are the “Booth Brothers” and “Ernie Haase & Signature Sound”. Chelsea participates in the choir at her church and has been taking piano lessons for nine years. She can often be found reading books such as the “Lord of the Rings” series, the “Mysterious Benedict Society” series, and the “Melendy Quartet” series. Her favorite movies are “Sammy the Way-Out Seal”, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and the TV show “Leave it to Beaver”. Chelsea has competed in the National Bible Bee for the past five years. Although she started in the Primary level, she is now competing as a Senior. Chelsea is fifteen years old and has been homeschooled her entire life. This is her first year at The Beacon and Excelsior Classes, and she is serving as a news reporter.

Clara Dornbirer

Clara is a sophomore in highschool and is absolutely ecstatic about being a part of The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. She is filling the position of Design Editor this year on The Beacon. She lives in a small town in Ohio with her four siblings, two amazing parents, three dogs, twelve sheep, fifty chickens, seven cats, one Betta fish, and her very noisy guinea pig Cozette. In her spare time, she loves to read, decorate cakes and bake, try to play the drums, dog groom, play basketball, and swim. She is also passionate about ice skating, theatre, singing, writing (she is currently writing her own novel), and marine biology. Some of her favorite books include, “The Wrath and the Dawn”, “The Dark is Rising Sequence”, “Harry Potter”, “The Kane Chronicles”, and “Percy Jackson”. She and her family love to travel, and Clara’s favorite place in the world (besides Ohio, of course) is Hawaii or Italy. She is also obsessed with “Hamilton”, “Outer Banks”, and “Highschool Musical”. Her favorite verse is Isaiah 41:10, “Do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Elisabeth Guilliams

Elisabeth Guilliams, a junior in high school and serving as Editor-in-Chief for The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. This is her second year serving on The Beacon, previously working as a reporter. Elisabeth lives on 128 acres with her family of eight. She is the fifth child of six and enjoys reading, writing, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and spending time with her family. Her favorite books consist of the “Percy Jackson” series, “The Hunger Games,” and the “Inheritance Cycle.” Listening to music is also a refreshing past time for Elizabeth. Her favorite bands to listen to are “Twenty-one Pilots,” “Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,” and “Skillet.” She has: two dogs, Sybil and Rosie, and two cats, Zebulun and Ashy. Children are close to her heart, and she spends a large amount of her time serving at a local Christian youth camp. She also extremely enjoys participating in theater with her homeschool friends and loves the thrill of stepping into a different role of acting each time. Her hope and desire for this next year is to grow as a better editor, communicator, and friend. First and foremost, however, she wants to grow as a better Christ-follower, glorifying God in all she does.

Garrett Hopkins

Garrett Hopkins is a junior who is happy to continue improving on his teamwork, writing and leadership skills as he serves his second year on The Beacon as a News Editor. Garrett is a proud military kid and has lived in Alabama, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C., Louisiana, California, and Virginia. Garrett is a devout Christian and finds joy in studying God’s creation as it pertains to science, with astronomy being his favorite. Garrett’s other hobbies include analyzing military history and being a competitive swimmer. He has been a part of two swim teams and currently swims for TIDE Swimming. In his downtime, Garrett enjoys playing guitar and learning to play songs from his favorite artists. Garrett has three siblings who have also been homeschooled. His life verse is Psalms 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Emillia Hubbard

Emillia Hubbard is a junior in high school who is thrilled to have the opportunity to serve on The Beacon newspaper as a news reporter. She has been homeschooled her entire life, with the exception of one semester in fourth grade. Her favorite subject has always been English, as reading is one of her deepest passions. From that, her love for writing also grew. Emillia loves magnifying others’ voices and stories, as well as sharing her own. She loves acting, through which she tells stories. Growing up, she has tried many different extracurricular activities including dance, soccer, ice skating, and horseback riding. Eventually, she found her fit with the theatre. Emillia wants to be an actress when she grows up, but her backup plans are to become an English teacher or reporter. At home, Emillia is the second youngest of five girls. Her family has one cat and two dogs. One is named Pearl, Emillia’s Maltese. Emillia enjoys playing with her dog, baking, and reading. Her favorite book is Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. She loves all forms of expression, including art, dance, and music. She especially enjoys listening to Billie Eilish, Twenty-One Pilots, and even Broadway Musicals.

Amelia Hughey

Amelia, a 17-year-old senior, is excited to serve as an artist on The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. Three words to describe Amelia are: Artistic, deliberate, and zealous. Her favorite food is sushi. Amelia lives in Wisconsin. She loves tea, books, flowers, and the night sky. Her greatest fear is worms and other creepy-crawlies. Sharing her life with her mother and father, along with three younger siblings, Amelia spends much of her time with her sister Ruby, who is one of her closest friends. In her spare time, Amelia likes to create custom art. She is the proud owner of an extremely large, blue, and prideful Budgerigar (parakeet) named Dorian. Some of Amelia’s all time favorite books include: Sherlock Holmes, The Space Trilogy, and The Count of Monte Cristo. Some day she hopes to hike the Grand Canyon from rim to rim. She really admires her dad because he can understand the stories and ideas she shares with him. Amelia committed her life to Christ when she was young, and she has sought to serve Him ever since. The greatest lesson she has learned so far in life is how important it is to make a right decision even when others do not.

Ruby Hughey

Ruby serves as copy editor and editorial cartoonist on The Beacon for Excelsior Classes. Born in 2004, she is the second-oldest kid in her family of six. Ruby has three siblings––two younger brothers and one older sister. She has a pet bird, Kevin, and a Brittany Spaniel, Holly. Ruby’s favorite food is peanut butter. Her greatest fear is being trapped in a small space. Some of Ruby’s favorite musical artists include: The Beach Boys, George Gershwin, and Simon and Garfunkel. Her most memorable travel experience was when she and her family took a vacation to New York City, where she enjoyed the subway rides, the museums, and the busy atmosphere. For fun, Ruby likes to spend time with her family, draw, read, walk, and listen to records. She loves to explore nature. Ruby is becoming an expert in finding Monarch eggs and caterpillars and caring for them until they are ready to be released into the wild. She enjoys reading Ernest Hemingway, however her favorite book of all time is All Quiet on the Western Front. She was saved by Jesus at the age of three, and is learning to serve him more and more each day.

Gabriella Hunter

Gabriella Hunter is an eighth grader who is very excited to work with The Beacon staff for the second year. She lives in a small town in central Illinois. Her family consists of her mom, dad, sister, two dogs, a cat, and frogs. She enjoys art, animals, writing, going outside, biking, soccer, reading, and anything to do with music. Her favorite books include “Harry Potter,” “The Heroes of Olympus,” and Christian fiction romance books. She loves all sorts of music, but especially modern pop. She also enjoys playing trumpet and piano. Her favorite animals are definitely dogs, but she loves many exotic animals too like pandas, tigers, dolphins, and penguins. She has played soccer for nine years – almost ten. She incorporates soccer by being a ref for younger children too. Gabriella loves playing with all the kids at her church and enjoys babysitting. She also always wants to learn more about God and his plan for her. Writing has always been a love for her and she hopes to grow her interest and knowledge towards the subject more by participating in The Beacon for the second time.

Christopher LeBlanc

Christopher is 14 years old. On the day he turned two years old, he moved to Scotland and lived there for a short time. He enjoys traveling. Some of the places Christopher has visited have been Scotland, Canada, Alaska, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Catalonia, North Carolina, Spain, Louisiana, and his home state of Texas. He enjoys playing LEGOS, playing video games, reading books, and building anything he can imagine out of cardboard boxes. Some of his favorite books are “The Alchemist” series, the “Harry Potter” series, “The Outsiders”, and “The Giver”. Christopher’s favorite movies and TV shows are “Monk,” “Psych,” “Sherlock,” “The Lord Of The Rings” series, “The Avenger” movies, and the “Star Trek” series. His favorite video games include “Minecraft,” “Roblox,” and “Terraria.” He also enjoys creating stories and composing music. Christopher is an active member of his Boy Scout troop and is working on his Eagle rank. He also has two cats, Buttercup and Spartacus and one dog named Coco. Christopher plays trumpet and piano and is trying to learn guitar and violin. He has been playing piano for nine years and it is one of his favorite hobbies, besides writing stories. He is excited to be a part of The Beacon at Excelsior Classes.

Viviana Otero

Viviana Otero is 16 years old and a high school junior. She has three sisters and one brother. She owns one pet fish and two Golden Doodles. Viviana enjoys art, watching movies, photography and playing with her niece and nephew. She dedicates much of her time to serving on her church’s worship ministry, which she greatly enjoys. Viviana spends much of her free time creating digital art. She has created a small Etsy business where she sells the art she creates. Her dream is to become a Graphic Designer. Her favorite movies are “Indiana Jones” and “Marvel.” Basketball is her favorite sport to watch, and her favorite team is The Golden State Warriors. Viviana was a competitive swimmer for 10 years and still enjoys leisure swims in her pool. She now is a swim teacher for children ages 22 months to 10 years old and enjoys teaching her students to swim for both survival and competition. Viviana Otero is happy to be serving as the 2020-2021 copy editor for the columns team on The Beacon at Excelsior Classes.

Donna Penny

Donna Penny is a high school freshman who lives overseas. Donna has two younger sisters, Hannah and Kelsey. They are all cat lovers. JoJo and Buzz belong to her sisters, and Grippon is the sixteen-year-old family cat. Luna, an albino Persian with blue eyes, belongs to Donna (or owns her, as every cat person would know). From the age of five, Donna was homeschooled by her mom, but she recently moved to online learning. She is excited to be part of The Beacon at Excelsior Classes because she gets to apply her favorite subject, English. This year, which is her first year on The Beacon, Donna is working as the book review columnist. Outside of school, Donna loves to dance. She does ballet, pointe, tap, modern, jazz, and contemporary, and she helps with some of the younger classes. When she isn’t dancing, Donna enjoys reading, eating, playing ukulele, table tennis, and PlayStation or watching movies. She especially loves the “Marvel Universe.” Her go-to books are “Harry Potter,” “The Land of Stories,” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” all of which she has read numerous times.

Elizabeth Pouliot

Elizabeth Pouliot is a high school freshman, taking classes with Excelsior Classes. She is a pre-professional ballerina currently training with Duncan Cooper, Slawomir Wozniak and Irena Wozniak. Elizabeth has competed and has future plans to compete in several international competitions. Her dream ballet school is the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her favorite ballets include “La Bayadère,” “Swan Lake,” and “The Sleeping Beauty.” She is currently an ambassador for both an arts company and a ballet vendor. Elizabeth has an older brother and a dog. Her favorite pastime, when she is not dancing, is baking sweet treats for her family and decorating her old pointe shoes. She is currently learning French and hopes to learn Russian and Polish. Elizabeth and her family have visited Canada and Italy. She loves to read many different books. Her favorite movie series is “High School Musical.” She is very excited about her first year with The Beacon at Excelsior Classes and is thrilled to be serving as an artist for the student run newspaper. She is so excited for this year!

Lydia Stinnett

Lydia Stinnett is a high school junior with Excelsior Classes. She is very excited about her first year with The Beacon and is thrilled to be serving as the Columns Editor for the student-run newspaper. She is the youngest of the three children in her family and lives with both of her parents, her paternal grandmother, and her brother and sister (when they come home from college for breaks). Because of her father’s job as a pastor, Lydia has lived in quite a few states including Missouri, Indiana, Montana, Louisiana, and West Virginia. She is a devout Christian and loves learning more about God, reading His Word and seeing how it can affect people in day to day life. Some of her other passions are reading, writing, acting, gardening (despite her tendency to have a black thumb), cooking, baking, drawing, and struggling along in practicing the piano, flute and guitar (despite the enormous amount of pain it inflicts upon her family’s ears). Her greatest hope in life is to somehow make God’s earth a better, safer and happier place.

Sarah Thompson

Sarah Thompson is a high school sophomore. She is the second oldest of four girls. She also has two calico cats and a golden retriever puppy named Baxter. Sarah enjoys swimming in the summer, alpine skiing in the winter, and rollerblading all year round. Her favorite subjects in school include math, science, and American Sign Language (ASL). In her spare time, Sarah likes to create recipes with random ingredients, as well as make Bible graphics for fun. Her favorite bible verse is Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Sarah has a big heart for the persecuted church and for pro-life work. Some of her favorite books include “The Hiding Place,” “Night of a Million Miracles,” “God’s Smuggler,” and the “Blades of Acktar” series. Her favorite bands include “Austin Stone,” “For King and Country,” “Vertical Worship,” and “Hillsong.” Sarah hopes to one day hike the Appalachian Trail, visit a country or two in Asia, and go on a mission trip.

Ava Zeliadt

Ava is a high school sophomore who lives in Tennessee. She lives on a small farm full of chickens, cats and goats. Ava’s family currently has four cats, two goats and lots of chickens. They plan to add two beef cows and a donkey someday soon. Ava has been homeschooled her entire life and started adding online classes to her usual curriculum five years ago. Ava has two brothers and a sister; she is the second oldest. She loves working with children and is a part-time nanny for family friends. Ava’s entire family is musical, and she has been playing guitar for five years. She also sings, plays a bit of piano, and is a member of a local youth choir. She is excited to be part of The Beacon staff this year for the first time, serving as an artist. She has been a Christian since she was very young, and she loves her church dearly. Her favorite activities include: making bracelets, writing poems, taking walks in the woods behind her house, catching fish, salamanders, crawfish, and other things in her creek, listening to sermons, reading her favorite books, learning new songs on her guitar and spending time with her family and friends. Some of her favorite movie series are “Marvel,” “Mission Impossible,” “Star Wars,” and “Narnia.”

Christian Zeliadt

Christian is a high school senior who lives in Tennessee with his two younger sisters and younger brother. He is very excited to serve as the Devotional Columnist on The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. He served last year as a reporter. He is homeschooled, enjoys world history, military history and biology and works part time on an organic produce farm. Amazed by the artistry of God, Christian also enjoys learning about the wildlife of the world. He plays piano and drums, serves on the worship team at his church, and is a member of a local youth choir. Christian has many hobbies. He enjoys reading fiction and nonfiction alike, from “Redwall” and “Gregor the Overlander,” to books on ancient history and marine life. He also enjoys writing stories, listening to sermons, film scores and “Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.” His favorite music genres include jazz, swing and bluegrass. He plays strategy board games like Axis & Allies, Risk, and Catan. Christian likes to watch “Marvel,” “Star Wars,” and “Mission Impossible” movies. He enjoys running. He also likes to hike the Appalachian Trail with his family.

Caden Ziske

Caden is a high school senior from a small town in Michigan. He is currently working as a News Editor for The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. He lives with his parents and older brother, along with his dog, Clover. Caden likes a variety of music, but he particularly enjoys rock and jazz. His favorite bands are They Might Be Giants and The Seatbelts. Caden is learning piano and plays the drums. During his free time, he enjoys an array of activities including biking, downhill skiing, film, video games, technology, reading, table-top role playing games, cooking and architecture. He also loves anything Disney related. His love of film ranges from classics, such as “Lawrence of Arabia,” to animation and anime, like “Cowboy Bebop.” When it comes to reading, he enjoys Jules Verne books, like “From the Earth To the Moon,” graphic novels, and mangas, i.e. “One Punch Man.” Due to his wide range of interests, he is always looking for new ways to express his creativity. He has done this through projects like building and establishing a little free pantry at his church and building a tabletop arcade unit. He has also participated in various art classes which include drawing, acrylics, photography, and watercolor.

Mrs. Jamie Anderson

Mrs. Jamie Anderson is the faculty advisor for The Beacon at Excelsior Classes. She has used her journalism degree from Iowa State University since 2013 working with homeschool students to put out a professional-looking monthly newspaper. Anderson is passionate about helping homeschool students be better communicators. As a homeschool mom herself, Anderson combines several years of online homeschool teaching experience with a career in radio broadcasting and public relations to offer a unique experience to students at Excelsior Classes. Since September 2012, Anderson has taught speech communications online, after a decade of working with homeschool students in-person and a public relations career that included training adults across the country how to confidently communicate their message in front of an audience or with a news reporter. In September 2019 Anderson was invited back into the world of broadcasting; she became an award-winning morning co-host at a Michigan adult contemporary radio station. After working at radio stations in Iowa and Minnesota, she had moved to Colorado for twelve years, working in public relations for the National Cattlemen’s Association. She and Jim raised three sons in Michigan. Anderson is an active member of her church, enjoys Bible study, bike riding and pottery throwing.

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