One of Hampden’s hottest preschools is run by Mennonites

A streetlight away from the quirky shops along Hampden’s Avenue, toddlers in T-shirts play with young women in modest skirts and white caps.

Their teachers are Mennonites, and they’re running one of the hottest preschools in town.

Parents wait up to two years for a spot in Hampden Christian School’s daycare, run by members of an Anabaptist church who don’t typically live in big cities. The Mennonites’ conservative dress and beliefs stick out in hipster Hampden, yet the preschool has grown so popular that it’ll soon take over buildings the Catholic church couldn’t fill. Families flock to the program, where teachers see their role as more of a calling than a job.

Hannah Unger was only three months pregnant when she and her husband, Cole, joined the school’s waitlist for one of 41 preschool spots. Their daughter Harriet was almost 2 by the time they got in.

Other preschools seemed to focus intensely on academics as a way to justify high prices, Cole Unger said. But he felt Hampden Christian School, with about a $2,000 monthly price tag and an emphasis on outdoor play, teaches kids to be good people, not to worry about being the next Einstein. Their daughter has turned out sweet and sensitive, always saying “please” and “thank you,” he said.

“When we were becoming new parents, you get the sense that it’s only a matter of time before your kid is kind of in the rat race competition for what school are they going to go to so they can go to what college,” Cole Unger said. “It seemed just very straightforwardly a good place for Harriet to spend her time.”

‘Astonishingly welcome’

Founded in 2011 with just five kids attending, Hampden Christian School now enrolls more than 80, from infants through eighth grade. Most of its families live near the school on West 36th Street, though some drive from as far as Timonium.

Darrell Hershberger, the school administrator (akin to a principal), said the school’s mission is to develop flourishing students who love God and become strong community builders. While kids may sing songs about loving Jesus and learn Bible stories, Hershberger said Mennonites don’t believe in evangelizing or converting children, especially in schools.

The Mennonite faith extolls hard work and simple living, leading many families to settle in rural areas with better access to trades like farming, Hershberger said. Some Mennonite women dress modestly and wear caps over their hair, a look that some people mistake for Amish. And yes, Mennonites can use electricity and drive cars.

“As a Mennonite woman who dresses differently, I’m used to getting the stares and the wondering, ‘What’s going on? Is she a nun?’” said daycare Director Cara Beiler. “That happens here, too, but I have felt astonishingly welcome. I think Hampden, as a community, feels like a place where people are like, ‘You do you, and we’re fine with it.’”

Hershberger said that while Mennonites don’t identify as Republican or with right-wing causes, they still hold a conservative worldview. A statement of faith on the school’s website includes beliefs in traditional gender roles and defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

The school’s founder, Reuben Petersheim, moved to Baltimore because he wanted to start a conservative Anabaptist school somewhere that didn’t have one. He and 12 others started Hampden Mennonite Church, said pastor Nathan Zook, who has held his post since 2014.

Until recently, the Hampden Mennonite Church shared space with the school. Though some are religious, none of the families enrolled in daycare are Mennonite, said Beiler. That’s likely because Mennonite moms tend to stay home with their kids at least until kindergarten.

Plus, there aren’t many families to pull from. Zook said the church has about 70 members, making it a small to medium-sized congregation by Mennonite standards; churches tend to cap out at 150-200 people.

‘More than just a job’

The school’s daycare teachers, who are all Mennonite women, largely come from rural communities, some from as far as the West Coast. When they arrive, they have to live for at least a year in a school-provided house and receive a stipend for things like groceries. Though pay gets more competitive after two years, Beiler said, teachers make more of a “voluntary service wage” to start.

It’s fairly common for young Mennonites to do a couple of years of service, said Beiler. And having housing picked out already can be a relief for overwhelmed teachers adjusting to big-city life.

Kari Troyer, 24, could have lived somewhere else for her second year, but she likes the three teachers with whom she shares a rowhome three-quarters of a mile from the school. They enjoy their weekly meal together, picnics in Federal Hill, riding scooters and attending Orioles games.

Troyer, the head teacher for the school’s 2-year-olds, grew up in eastern Oregon and wanted to work with kids. She heard about Hampden Christian School from a friend who worked there and has come to love Baltimore. She was excited to see the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels in the Sail250 air show last month, but she also misses the cool mountain air out west.

“I cannot bear to think of leaving Baltimore,” Troyer said, “but going home, it has a pull, to be with my family.”

Beiler said homesickness can cause turnover, but most teachers stay at least two years. She said her staff is dedicated, and she never has to worry about them blowing off work or scrolling on their phones.

“I would say a lot of them view it as more than just a job,” Beiler said.

Room to grow

As word spread among parents and Hampden Christian grew more popular, space started to feel tight. It’s also next door a high school, the Academy for College and Career Exploration, making dismissal time a bit hectic.

So in April, Hampden Mennonite Holdings LLC bought the old St. Thomas Aquinas Church from the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who closed it and dozens of other parishes in 2024 as Catholic congregations shrank across the region.

Hampden Mennonite Church has already moved into the old worship space and rectory. Hampden Christian School will take over the former St. Thomas Aquinas school and convent as soon as Christmas, restoring religious learning to the building for the first time in a decade. Eventually, Hampden Christian will take on more students.

Zook said a nearby family had one request for the building’s new owners: Please keep the church bells ringing.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.