The Beacon

Dylan George, a 16-year-old senior who lives on a small 18-acre farm in the Missouri Ozarks. He is glad to be serving as is the columns editor for The Bright Ideas Beacon this year. He lives with his parents and one sister; they have two dogs, three cats, thirteen goats, over 100 chickens, and a beehive from which he harvests honey from at least once a year. Dylan loves farm life and enjoys living in the country. His favorite subjects are math, especially statistics, along with geography and reading. He also finds pleasure in playing the piano in his spare time and playing games with his family. He has been homeschooled since his family moved to Missouri in 2012 and started taking classes online in 2014. While writing isn’t his passion, he enjoys working on the newspaper and giving back to Bright Ideas Press.

​Jaedon Wilkinson is 15 years old and lives in Raleigh, NC. He is in 11th grade and is very excited to see what God has in store for him these next two semesters. Jaedon is the youngest of 5 children and lives in the great state of North Carolina. Jaedon is excited to be working as this year’s copy editor on The Bright Ideas Beacon for his second year of serving.One of his extracurricular activities is  the Civil Air Patrol a, civilian, youth branch of the Air Force dedicated to excellence, respect, integrity, and volunteer service. He is currently a Cadet Master Sergeant in the program. He enjoys most of his subjects and all of his teachers, though his number one teacher is his mom, who has been homeschooling him for his entire life. In his free time, he enjoys reading, acting, gaming, and writing. Jaedon is in the middle of his first manuscript for a book. He also enjoys swordsmanship at an amature level; he also enjoys the beach, sometimes practicing swordsmanship on the beach. He hopes to become a pilot and an actor.

Brendan Keefer is a 17-year-old senior who lives in Southern China with his family of eight, five of which are younger than Brendan.  He and his family have lived there for almost ten years doing mission work. Brendan will be working as the devotion columnist for the Bright Ideas Beacon. He enjoys many things, including playing sports, reading, writing, playing board games, cheering on the Chicago Cubs, and spending time with his family.  Last year was his first year on The Beacon (or any newspaper for that matter), and it was a major learning experience for him.  He is excited to be back on staff this year and hopes to continue to grow in his writing and communication skills. More than anything,  Brendan wants to grow in his understanding and love for God and wants his life to count for the Gospel. Through his post as the devotional columnist, Brendan hopes to encourage others to love God more and live out the Gospel in their lives.

Elianna is a 17-year-old who homeschools with her three younger siblings and her 12-year-old boxer/lab mix named Brodie. She loves riding and owns an appendix mare named Bonnie. Elianna was born in Indiana before moving to Texas with her immediate family. She has a winter birthday and can’t wait to take on new things in life as she gets older. Elianna enjoys playing soccer, basketball and occasionally pitching around a baseball with her friends. Elianna adores chocolate and would live on it alone if she could. She gets a kick out of music and singing along with her favorite songs. On the side, Elianna dabbles in photography. As an avid reader, some of her favorite books are by Lauraine Snelling, Gordon Korman, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. She is a mega-fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. Some of her dreams are to learn the arts of archery and sword fighting. Speaking of art, Elianna is often found drawing, or baking sweets in her free time. Some of her dislikes include spiders, cheese and peanut butter together, bad hair days, and cod liver oil. Elianna has been a Christian for most of her life but recently she found a new deepness in her relationship with Jesus. She knows without a doubt that whatever is in store for her days ahead, God will guide her steps along the correct path.

Sarah Slack is a high school senior; she is 16 years old and lives with her lovely parents in a small town in East Texas. Sarah is excited to be Editor-In-Chief on this year’s Beacon staff, to make new friends, and to do purposeful work. She is grateful for such a wonderful opportunity. She has a brother 13 years her senior living nearby with his family, and she enjoys being able to see her nephew and niece often. Though a bit reserved, she loves to make others laugh. She passes her spare time by singing, playing the piano, and (believe it or not) cleaning/organizing; she also plans to learn how to play the banjo.  Upon graduation, Sarah would like to attend a 4-year university in Texas; she plans to major in political science and hopes to become an attorney in the future. For now, she simply trusts God to guide her steps and reveal His perfect plan for her. She accepted Him as savior after coming to the realization He is the only one she can fully rely upon, and that He is the best of friends. Ultimately, she lives only for God, giving Him kingship over her circumstances.

Ingrid Dornbirer is a 16-year-old junior, who is serving as the Design Editor at The Bright Ideas Beacon this school year.  It is her first year with The Beacon, and she cannot wait to get started.  Ingrid lives with her parents, 3 sisters and naughty brother in a place she wishes was the Shire but is really The Middle of Nowhere, Ohio on a small farm comprised of dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, sheep, and fish.  She enjoys playing with little kids, thunderstorms, singing The Greatest Showman at the top of her lungs, acting in community theater productions, creating new worlds both by painting them on canvases and filling up blank pages with words, making sarcastic comments, traveling the world—and also eating chocolate.  Her favorite classes in school change regularly, but she can say with confidence that chemistry comes in dead last. She loves English, literature and ancient Greek and Roman history. Ingrid is beyond excited to be a part of this new adventure.