P-H-M Breaks Ground on Penn High School’s New Fieldhouse

This morning P-H-M School Board of Trustees members, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, and P-H-M administrators were joined by representatives from R. Yoder Construction Inc., and Fanney Howey for the groundbreaking of Penn High School’s new 80,000 square foot Fieldhouse. 

Click here to watch the video animation of the features that will be included.

Click here to view a brochure with more details about what the new facility will include.

The new athletic and academic facility will be off McKinley Highway, less than a 10-minute walk from Penn High School for students who will primarily be utilizing the resources after school. This extension of Penn’s campus will be situated in the area between the new Culvers Restaurant and the Penn Fire Station. Penn-Harris-Madison already owned this property.

The groundbreaking took place on site where the clearing of trees had already begun. Construction is anticipated to be completed for the start of the 2025-26 school year. Click to see the full gallery from the groundbreaking below.

This project is years in the making. The need for expanded indoor space to better accommodate student extracurricular and co-curricular activities of Penn’s some 3,400 students was identified in the 2022 P-H-M District Master Facilities Plan. 

This investment for our students will NOT raise taxes for P-H-M residents. The administration and Board of School Trustees are committed to fiscal responsibility and the corporation is in excellent financial health. In fact, P-H-M has the lowest tax rate in St. Joseph County, along with delivering academic excellence for our students. 

Overall, the project will cost $15,926,745. A breakdown of the costs and bids can be found on the P-H-M website (click here to see).

On March 25, 2024, the Board of School Trustees voted to award the construction contract to R. Yoder Construction Inc. (Nappanee). This project is designed by Architect Mike Schipp of Fanning Howey and engineered by P-H-M parent Troy Madlem of Magnus Engineering. Fanning Howey has partnered with P-H-M on projects providing architectural and engineering services for over 40 years.

The multi-use facility will include practice and performance areas for Track and Field, Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, Softball, Golf, Tennis, Wrestling, Dance, Cheer, Robotics, Marching Band and Color Guard, along with classrooms, a training room, locker and dressing rooms, student commons, and concessions. The Fieldhouse can also accommodate Physical Education classes, intramural sports, as well as PHM youth camps and athletic feeder organizations. For those family and community members wishing to watch athletic or other types of activities, bleacher seating will accommodate more than 800 people with plenty of event parking.

Below are listed those who were in attendance and participated in today’s event (Tuesday, May 7, 2024):

• Dr. Jerry Thacker, Superintendent of Schools, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation
• Dr. Aaron Leniski, Chief Operating Officer, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation
• P-H-M Board of School Trustees Members
• Dr. Heather Short, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction
• Dr. Tom Keeley, Executive Director of Business Services
• Joe Winters, Director of Facilities,  Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation
• Dr. Sean Galiher, Principal, Penn High School
• Jeff Hart, Athletic Director, Penn High School
• Nate Yoder, Director of Business Development, R. Yoder Construction Inc.
• John Emmons, Senior Project Manager, R. Yoder Construction Inc.
• Mike Schipp, Principal Project Manager, Fanning Howey
• Ed Sawa – Construction Administrator, Principal 
  
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