[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E697-E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      COMMENDING MR. DONALD HINKLE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM GERLACH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 28, 2004

  Mr. GERLACH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the founder and 
artistic director of the Berks Classical Children's Chorus, Mr. Donald 
Hinkle.
  Mr. Hinkle has a long and distinguished career in music. He received 
a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a 
Master of Sacred Music from Wittenberg University. Post-graduate 
studies include time spent at Union Theological Seminary School of 
Music in New York City and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New 
Jersey. He was the Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in 
Reading, Pennsylvania from 1969 through 1996.
  In 1992, Mr. Hinkle decided to use his talents and establish a 
musical organization to train young singers. Twelve years and hundreds 
of singers later, the Berks Classical Children's Chorus (BCCC) 
continues to educate vocal artists from grade school through high 
school. An ensemble of over 125 professionally and rigorously trained 
young men and

[[Page E698]]

women perform with the BCCC in concerts, competitions, churches and 
civic organizations.
  Many members of the Chorus have grown up singing with the BCCC, and 
the experience has been life changing. Through the BCCC, these young 
men and women learn to read music, master a diverse and challenging 
repertoire, use, their voices properly, and become poised and confident 
performers. They learn an appreciation for a wide variety of cultures 
through the music they study and perform. But even more importantly, 
they learn the life lessons of self-discipline, personal 
responsibility, self-expression, teamwork, and self-confidence.
  For Mr. Hinkle, the BCCC is about more than singing. It is his 
vehicle for building character through disciplined and professional 
artistic expression. Donald Hinkle has always been and always will be a 
man with a mission. His students are the fulfillment of that mission. 
They are not only accomplished singers, but also better human beings. 
Mr. Hinkle inspires them to strive for and achieve their personal best. 
His uncompromising pursuit of excellence transforms all of his 
students. I congratulate him on these accomplishments.

                          ____________________