Penn Class of 2018 Highlights

On Friday, May 25, 869 students graduated from Penn High School in Commencement Ceremonies at Purcell Pavilion on the University of Notre Dame campus. Click to view the Class of 2018 Commencement photo gallery .

Penn’s Class of 2018 features 17 Valedictorians: Nicholas Casetti, Madeline Cullison, Margaret Finnessy, Kendra Fuelling, Kristine Hocker, Morgan Jankowski, Fezaan Kazi, Veronica Kirgios, Sybil Kurian, Kendra Laidig, Erin Ludwig, Bryan Mai, Christopher Mazurek, Matthew Rach, Maheera Siddique, Mackenzie Wood and Renee Yaseen. Click to read more about these students and see where they’ll be attending college/university. The Valedictorians have an average GPA of 4.4 on a scale of 4.0!

Lauren Frank and David Li earned Salutatorian status. The average GPA of the salutatorians is 4.3! Click to read more about this year’s Salutatorians.

This year’s class also has six National Merit Scholarship Finalists: Nicholas Casetti, Margaret Finnessy, Kristine Hocker, Shane Hullinger, Kendra Laidig, and Renee Yaseen. 

Nicholas Casetti also earned Indiana Academic All-State Honors.

Of the 869 member graduating class:

• 304 are graduating with High Honors
• 446 – Academic Honors
• 105 – Technical Honors
   

Another highlight of this year’s graduating class is that it includes 82 students of the first cohort of the Early College Academy. The Academy was started four years ago to offer students, who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to attend college, to earn dual college credit in the supportive environment of Penn High School. These students have been taking classes at Penn and also earning college credit through courses at Ivy Tech Community College. 

• 37 earned Associate of General Studies degrees
• 31 earned Technical Certificates (earning between 32-62 credits, the equivalent of one year of college or more)
• 14 earned at least 15 college credits

To date, members of this year’s graduating class continuing their academic career in higher education have received just over $8 million in scholarships!

Many students will be attending in-state colleges and universities:

• Purdue University – 86
• Indiana University South Bend – 84
• Indiana University Bloomington – 65
• Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis– 38
• Ball State University – 25
• Butler University – 11
• University of Notre Dame – 6
• University of Indianapolis – 4

A few Kingsmen will also be venturing a little farther from home attending across the country, for example: Oregon State University, University of Southern California, University of Utah, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Mississippi, Florida State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We take pride in providing a wide array of academics and career learning opportunities to appeal to a wide base of student interests supporting our students for college and career readiness.

Fourteen students have enlisted in the military and armed services to honorably serve our country.

Several members of the Class of 2018 will also pursuing Electrician School, Apprenticeship for Photography, Apprenticeship for Carpentry, and finishing Cosmetology Programs.

 

Click to read more about the Penn’s Class of 2018 and the Student Awards handed out at Senior Recognition Night held last week (Tuesday, May 15, 2018). 

Click to watch Class of 2018 Excellence Happens Here student profiles on Penn-Harris-Madison’s YouTube channel.