Sreeja Bhattacharjee earns Scholastic National Silver Medal

Penn High School student Sreeja Bhattacharjee is a 2026 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards national winner.

Bhattacharjee is one of 12 students nationwide to earn a National Silver Medal.
 
She is Penn’s first Scholastic National winner since 2016.
 
Bhattacharjee won the Silver Medal for her portfolio “Earthbound” and her short story “Over Easy.” 
 
Caelea Armstrong is the sponsor of Penn’s Literary Magazine, “Spectrum”, and is the instructor of the Creative Writing class.
 
 

Penn places third in Speech State Tournament

Penn High School hosted the 2026 Speech State Tournament.
 
Photo Gallery posted below.
 
Penn, coached by Jeremy Starkweather, placed third in the Triple A Class.
 
PENN HIGHLIGHTS:
 
Finalists
Andrew Dell- State Runner-Up – Dramatic Interpretation 
James Mason- State Runner-Up – Broadcasting
 
Semi-Finalists
Mugisha Gihozo – Original Performance
Hannah Luck – Poetry
Veerinder Turna – Discussion
 
Quarter-Finalists
Malika Mosley and Yolanis Fair – Original Performance
Hannah Luck – Programmed Oral Interpretation
Aiden Kennedy – Broadcasting
Kaiyi Zhao – International Extemp
Alex Geyer – Informative
Sobrin Fitwi – Informative
Rebeca Ramirez – United States Extemp
Mia Helm – Discussion
 

Penn DECA students excel at State

Penn’s DECA chapter competed at the State Career Development Conference in Indianapolis. Due to their outstanding performance at SCDC, 31 Penn students qualified for the International Career Development Conference, the most in chapter history.

Photos posted below

Receiving competency awards:

(85%+ on roleplay exam)

1) Mia Helm
2) David Ha
3) Joseph Imdieke
4) Connor Geoghegan

5) Danielle Ciliberti

International Career Development Conference Qualifiers:

State Champions:
Melody Matviyiv and Gracie Rowe (Business Services Operations Research)

Jennifer Chen and Marium Chaudry (International Business Plan)

Veerinder Turna and Vardaan Turna (Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research)

Second Place:
Kaiyi Zhou and Joshua Seluzhitsky (Buying and Merchandising Operations Research)

Yuxuan Lin and Caitlyn McCrink (Innovation Plan)

Layla Hurley and Victoria Sanchez (Integrated Marketing Campaign – Event)

Danielle Ciliberti and Olivia Wu (Integrated Marketing Campaign – Service)

Gabi Martinez-Morales and Nia Lawson-Mitchell (Community Awareness Project)

Navya Ramanujan and Charlotte Chung (Marketing Management Team Decision Making)

Third Place:
Aarna Pathak and Ayvah Bell (Finance Operations Research)

Veer Verma and Mariam Ahmed (Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research)

Ishita Masetty and Abhijay Masetty (Franchise Business Plan)

Emma Wei and Alice Zhang (International Business Plan)

Johnson Chen (Entrepreneurship Series)

Fourth Place (Roleplay Only):
Vihaan Meda (Principles of Business Management and Administration)

 
Other ICDC Qualifiers:
Joon Jang (Business Finance Series)
 

Chase Pinckert and Lucas Eshowsky (Sports and Entertainment Marketing Team Decision Making)

 

Penn Speech & Debate Team qualifies students for Nationals

The following members of the Penn Speech and Debate Team have qualified for the national tournament, which will be held in Richmond, Va. on June 15-21. 
 
  • Daniel Zartman and Cathlyn Kulba – Policy 
  • Olivia Kiner and Mia Helm – Lincoln Douglas
  • Amina Spahic and Rebecca Wolter – Public Forum
  • Roman Gargis, David Ha, and Bray Councell – Congress
  • Selin Bilgicer – Humorous Interpretation
  • Rayna Doland and Rebecca Wagman – Original Oratory
  • Rebecca Ramirez – United States Extemporaneous Speaking
  • Victoria Sanchez, Mira Yaradi, Ishita Awasthi, and Ranveer Verma – World Schools
  • Emmanuel Singleton – Big Questions 

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Penn Jazz Ensemble qualifies for State

Penn is one of this year’s State Finalists for jazz ensemble. Penn earned a spot as one of only nine groups from across the state of Indiana.
 
This is the fifth time in school history that Penn has qualified for State Jazz Finals.
 
State Jazz Finals will be held Friday, March 20, at Pike High School in Indianapolis.
 
Penn High School Advanced Jazz Ensemble qualified by competing in the ISSMA Jazz State Qualifier event at Goshen Junior High School on Saturday, March 7.

Penn Theatre Dept. presents “Hadestown: Teen Edition”

Penn High School presents “Hadestown: Teen Edition” as the annual musical production.
 
A Photo Gallery of Dress Rehearsal is posted below.
 
This full-length musical is a retelling of the Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in a steampunk world. With a live band, choreography, spectacular lighting, singing, and all of the technical elements, this show promises to be one of the most amazing musical productions!
 
Performances will be on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7, at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m. Shows will be in the E.O.S. Bengtsson CPA inside of Door C.
 
Tickets can be purchased at $13 for presale or $15 at the door, and are available on Hometown Ticketing (https://events.hometownticketing.com/boxoffice/phmschools/L2VtYmVkL2FsbA%3D%3D)
 

Penn Model U.N. wins delegation, individual honors at Indiana University competition

Penn High School’s Model United Nations team, sponsored by Eric Bowers, was named the Outstanding Small Delegation at the Indiana University Model U.N. competition.

Aydn Kurama was named Outstanding delegate, Marie Stambaugh earned honorable mention, and Rebecca Wagnam earned Verbal Commendation.

 

Penn’s 2026 College/Career Fair set for Thursday, March 5

Penn High School will host the annual College and Career Fair on Thursday, March 5.
 
All juniors and seniors are required through a state mandate to attend for the entire block and their ID will be scanned to take attendance.
 
Juniors will attend G1 and Seniors will attend G2.
 
Students will not go to class first. They should go to their assigned starting area and be there when the bell rings.
 
  • Students with last names A-L will start in the Main Arena near Door D.
  • Students with last names M-Z will start in the CPA near Door C.
 
Students with Dismiss, WBL, EACC, Vogue, etc are required to be at the Job Fair for their assigned time.
 
This fair is primarily for current or future jobs, and exploring college opportunities, including: Part-time, full-time in the summer, Work-Based Learning (internships) during school, careers for after graduation, careers for after college, colleges options.
 
Even if there is not a company or job a student is expecting at this event, students can learn important information about related careers and practice employability skills.
 
Construction companies have finance departments, hospitals have lawyers, manufacturing facilities have engineers, colleges have grounds crews, most students who attend college change their major or drop out of college and enter a different career field, many adults go back to college or attend college later in life for different or additional careers … Even our college bound students will be entering the workforce eventually.
 
This opportunitie helps our students think ahead not just to college/training, but beyond that to a career. That makes this fair much more valuable.

Penn hosts Robotics Tournament March 7-8

📍 Penn High School | 🗓 March 7–8, 2026
🎟 Admission: Free

Penn High School will host a FIRST Indiana Robotics District Competition on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, 2026. The competition will take place in the Main Arena and feature more than 40 teams from across Indiana.

Click here to see a photo gallery of last year’s competition.

📅 Event Schedule

Saturday, March 7

  • 10:30 a.m. – Opening Ceremonies

  • All Day – Qualification Matches

  • @7:00 p.m. – Competition concludes

Sunday, March 8

  • 9:30 a.m. – Opening Ceremonies

  • 2:00–5:00 p.m. – Playoff Matches & Awards

🤖 About the Competition

  • Theme: FIRST AGE (Archaeology)

  • Game: REBUILT

  • This event serves as a qualifier for the FIRST Indiana Robotics Championship
    (April 17–19 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds)

  • Top teams may advance to the FIRST Robotics World Championships

👉 Click here for more information on the REBUILT game

🚗 Parking & Entry

  • Parking: Penn High School parking lots: Main, Softball, Soccer; and across the street at Schmucker Middle School

  • Spectator Entrance: Door D (northwest corner of the school)

🍔 Food & Amenities

  • Food trucks available both days

  • Spectator-friendly event for all ages

Come cheer on Indiana’s best student engineers and experience innovation, teamwork, and problem-solving in action!

Penn Science Olympiad enjoys success at Notre Dame Invitational

Penn’s Science Olympiad teams enjoy exceptional success at the 2nd annual Notre Dame Invitational, competing against 20 teams.

🥇1st Place

Chem Lab – Toby Prince & Ishita Masetty

Designer Genes – Sadie Charbonneau & Shyla Douglas

🥈2nd Place

Astronomy – Allie Tessier & Katie Kuzmic

Disease Detectives – Iniya Christopher & Kathy Lee

Machines – Kelsey Meyer & Maddie Kuzmic

🥉3rd Place

Dynamic Planet – Jayden Hoffman & Caleb Tyler

Botany – Jayden Hoffman & Caleb Tyler

Water Quality – Ishita Masetty & Abhijay Masetty