Mentor. Performing artist. Entrepreneur. And ‘a cool young lady’

Madeline “Maddie” Bates is a sixth-grade student at Warwick Valley Middle School, where she relishes the peer-mentoring opportunities she gets as part of her school’s Multi-Age Classroom (MAC) program.

MACs include a mixture of fifth and sixth grade students and the sixth graders often take the younger students under their wings.

“It’s nice because you have a lot more responsibilities being sixth grade and getting to help the fifth graders,” said Maddie. “Like in the first week of school, we helped them get around the school, find their classroom, get onto their Chromebooks - that kind of stuff.”

‘She’s just really a cool young lady’

“Not only is Maddie kind and friendly, she does great academically and, among all of the things she’s into and great at, she even runs her own jewelry business on Instagram,” Warwick Valley Middle School Principal Georgianna Diopoulos said. “She’s just really a cool young lady!”

Maddie’s favorite subject is math because it gives her new and different problems to solve all the time. She’s also been playing violin since elementary school and says she is inspired toward music by her dad, a musician who keeps an extensive instrument collection around their home.

‘Its fun to be on stage’

Maddie has also been active in the district’s talented performing arts community for nearly four years already.

“I got into drama club in third grade, as soon as I could start,” she said excitedly. “It’s fun to be on stage. I love singing, dancing, acting; to me, it just kind of feels natural to do it.”

Maddie has been in three productions so far, including last year’s video production of “Annie Kids.” She said the highlight of her stage career so far has been playing the lead in her fourth grade production of “The Little Mermaid.”

“I was beyond excited that I got to play Ariel,” she said. “I loved all of the Disney movie songs when I was young, and I had a costume for all of the Disney princesses.”

Beyond the classroom and stage, Maddie enjoys jewelry design and has become an online entrepreneur. She launched Maddie’s Jewelry Shop, with adult guidance, on Instagram last year.

“During quarantine, I was getting really bored quickly,” Maddie laughed. “I was looking at social media and I could see other people doing shops. I like wearing jewelry, so I just went on Amazon, ordered a few supplies to start out, and now I have an Instagram shop!”

Business got off to a solid start, and Maddie also says her sales ticked upward when people started placing orders for their back-to-school outfit accessories this year. Maddie’s Jewelry Shop offers earrings, anklets and bracelets.

There are plans to expand the product line in the offing.

“I recently bought a lot of beads, so I’m going to be making beaded necklaces, and I’ll also be doing wire rings and keychains,” she said, adding that custom orders are always welcome.

On the weekends, you’ll even find Maddie running her pop-up shop inside her grandfather’s laundromat in Warwick, the Forester Avenue Express Laundry Center.