Penn High School’s Technology Student Association (TSA) and TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Math and Science) members will take their skills to the national level at the National TSA Conference, held in Orlando Florida on June 21-25, 2017.

Penn students in TSA and TEAMS qualified for the National Competition in each organization at state competitions this spring.

In addition to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) competitions, students will attend business meetings, and interact with other TSA student competitors.

Penn High School will be the largest school representing Indiana at the National Conference and has been invited to take the lead in an Indiana delegation meeting that will help direct the 2018 Indiana TSA Conference. Penn was the TSA Indiana state champion in 2017.

“Competitions include Digital Video Production, Music Production, writing Children's stories, CAD architecture, STEM Careers, and more,” Penn teacher and TSA advisor Steve Sinish said. “Students have been working since March to prepare for the conference.  Our students are driven to make a strong debut and let schools across the nation know that Penn is a top-tier competitor.” 

Efforts to prepare for the National Conference have been spearheaded by Penn High School’s TSA Advisor Steve Sinish, and facilitated by the TSA Chapter Officer Team consisting of Daniel Nilov, Mia Schwartz, Chris Capek, Giancarlo Smith, Aaron Jackson, and Michelle Kwak.

Becky Tagliaferri is the TEAMS coach. The TEAMS regional champions include Tara Devaraj, Lyvia Li, Chelsea Chen, Riya Patel, Amy Bernard, Tingyi Lu, Seunghoon Sun and Corey Wang.

In preparation for the National Conference, students have hosted a Nelson’s Port-a-Pit sale, managed a frozen cookie dough fundraiser, created an official Penn TSA Website, and sought the support of local businesses in order to defray the cost of travel expenses and to promote Penn TSA and TEAMS.  

Anyone interested in helping sponsor the TSA and TEAMS students at Penn can contact Steve Sinish at ssinish@phm.k12.in.us.

The Penn Boys Golf Team ended its outstanding season at the IHSAA Regional Competition. The Kingsmen, who won the Northern Indiana Conference Championship and Sectional Championship, placed eighth in the Regional at Warsaw with a score of 326.

Josh Yoder (78), Baz Furry (79), Zach Hale (84), Grant Wargo (85) and Seth Campbell (86) led the Kingsmen effort.

Penn High School’s Baseball Team earned it’s second trip to the Class 4-A State Championship Game by defeating Zionsville, 6-2, on Saturday, June 10, 2017.

Click here to view a Photo Gallery of the Kingsmen Semistate experience.

The Kingsmen (27-6) play Indianapolis Cathedral (28-0) at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2017, at Victory Field in Indianapolis for the Class 4-A State Championship.

Penn has won four State Championships in Baseball – 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2015.

Pitcher Kameron Koch earned the victory in Saturday’s Semi-state game against Zionsville. Koch worked five innings. Chase McKenzie sealed the victory with two innings of scoreless relief.

Matt Kominkiewicz, Niko Kavadas and Ryan Lau slugged two hits each for the Kingsmen.

Trevor Waite, Matt Kominkiewicz, Niko Kavadas, Ryan Lynch and Nathan Lovisa each drove in runs for the Kingsmen.

Trevor Waite crushed a triple, and Niko Kavadas, Payton Kerr, Ryan Lau and Nolan Metcalf each whacked doubles.

The Penn High School Baseball Team will play in the Class 4-A North Semi-state on Saturday, June 10, 2017.

The Kingsmen (26-6) take on Zionsville (22-11) at Kokomo Municipal Stadium. Penn plays in the second game. The first game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Click here for the Penn Baseball Media Notes for in-depth information about the Kingsmen.

Penn’s Baseball Team practiced at the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Baseball Stadium on Friday, June 9. Click here for a Photo Gallery of the Kingsmen practicing at Notre Dame.

Graduation for the Penn High School Class of 2018 will be on Friday, May 25, at the University of Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion.

The Graduation Ceremony is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Composure was the key word in helping the Kingsmen punch their ticket to Baseball’s Class 4-A Final Four.

Penn High’s Baseball Team captured its third consecutive Regional Championship and 10th in program history by defeating Andrean, 9-4, in the Class 4-A Regional Championship game at LaPorte on Saturday, June 3, 2017. Penn defeated Lake Central, 6-2, in the first regional game on Saturday.

Penn (26-6) takes on Zionsville (22-11) in Class 4-A Semi-state action on Saturday, June 10. The IHSAA will announce on Tuesday the time and location (Kokomo or Plymouth) of the game. Last season, Zionsville defeated Penn, 8-5, in the Semi-state.

Coach Greg Dikos’ Kingsmen displayed remarkable composure as Penn rallied from deficits in each game, and by knocking off Andrean and Lake Central, the Kingsmen avenged two previous losses.

Andrean beat Penn 14-11 on April 8, and were defeated by Lake Central 20-8 on April 22. The Kingsmen beat Lake Central 9-4 in the first game of the doubleheader on April 22.

Senior Niko Kavadas blasted three hits and drove in four runs to power the Kingsmen attack against Andrean. Matt Kominkiewicz had three hits. Nolan Metcalf and Ryan Lynch had two hits each, and Ryan Lau drove in two runs.

Penn took a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the Championship game, cashing in on an error by Andrean

The 59ers took a 4-2 lead in the third inning, but the Kingsmen struck back in the fourth inning for five runs and a 7-4 lead.

Trevor Waite ignited the Kingsmen uprising in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly.

Kavadas then lashed a two-run single for a 5-4 Kingsmen lead. Nolan Metcalf and Nathan Lovisa drove in runs for the 7-4 lead.

Kavadas ripped a two-run double in the fifth inning for the Kingsmen to expand the lead to 9-4.

Lynch earned the victory, pitching 5.1 innings. Chase McKenzie pitched 1.2 innings to seal the deal.

Penn also rallied from a deficit against Lake Central in the first Regional Game.

Lake Central led 2-0 after three innings when the Kingsmen offense kicked into high gear.

Lynch lined a two-run single, and Lovisa and Lau contributed RBI singles for a 4-2 Kingsmen lead in the fourth inning.

Waite hammered an RBI triple in the fifth, and scored on a single by Kominkiewicz.

Metcalf and Lynch ended up with two hits each. Pinch-runner Brock Boynton scored two runs.

Kameron Koch pitched a complete-game to earn the victory. Koch’s quality start limited Lake Central to two runs on seven hits. He struck out one and gave up no walks.

Penn High’s Baseball Team erupted for five runs in the fourth inning and nine runs in the sixth inning, defeating Elkhart Central, 16-3, to capture the Class 4-A Sectional Championship on Monday, May 29.

Coach Greg Dikos celebrated victory No. 700 with the Sectional Championship.

Penn earned its fourth consecutive Sectional Championship, and won its 15th Sectional in the past 17 seasons. Penn owns 21 Sectional Championships overall.

Trevor Waite hammered a home run to spearhead the Kingsmen assault.

Matt Kominkiewicz and Ryan Lynch had three hits each.

Trevor Waite and Payton Kerr had two hits each.

Ryan Lynch drove in four runs, Niko Kavadas drove in three runs, and Trevor Waite, Nolan Metcalf and

Payton Kerr drove in two runs each.

Next up for the Kingsmen is the LaPorte Regional on Saturday, June 3.

LaPorte Regional pairings

LaPorte (20-8) vs. Andrean (25-6), 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time

PENN (23-5) vs. Lake Central (23-8), 2 p.m., Eastern Time

Regional Championship, 8 p.m., Eastern Time

After last week’s (Tuesday, May 23) announcement that Penn Principal Steve Hope is leaving to become Goshen Community School’s new Assistant Superintendent Penn-Harris-Madison’s Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker announced today the following administrative change for the upcoming 2017-18 school year: 
 

• Schmucker Principal Sean Galiher will Penn’s new principal
• Meadow’s Edge Principal Jayson Snyder will become Schmucker’s new principal
• Schmucker Assistant Principal Kent Mikel will become Meadow’s Edge new principal

Sean Galiher will carry on Penn’s great academic and athletic tradition. Before being named principal at Schmucker in 2013, Mr. Galiher served as Associate Principal at Penn for three years. From 2006-2009, he was Dean of Students and before that taught Algebra at Penn for four years, while also serving as assistant varsity baseball coach. Under Mr. Galiher’s leadership,  Schmucker, along with Penn, was recently named a “Four Star School,” and has received an “A” rating four consecutive years. Schmucker students have won state and national competitions in performing arts, Academic Superbowls and TEAMS. He also implemented a successful community building and character development program that was incorporated into the start of the students’ day.  In 2015, Mr. Galiher was a member of the “Forty under 40” class.

“The P-H-M Board of School Trustees and I are confident that Sean will carry on Penn’s great academic and athletic tradition as the new principal,” said Dr. Thacker.

The Administrative changes will take effect July 1, 2017.

Penn’s Kingsmen beat Northridge 13-0 on Tuesday, May 30, to win their fourth consecutive Regional Championship and eighth in program history.

Penn advances to the North Semi-state at Harrison High School in West Lafayette on Saturday, June 3.  Penn (27-1) plays Crown Point (27-2) at 11 a.m. Hamilton Southeastern (17-8) plays Homestead (21-6) at 1 p.m. The winners return to play at 7 p.m. for a berth to the State Championship.

Danielle Watson pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out 15 in her five innings of work. 

Katie Quinlan led the Kingsmen offense with a grand-slam home run.

Maddy Newman had three hits.

Penn High School Principal Steve Hope, along with P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, members of the Board of School of Trustees, along with P-H-M and Penn administrators honored and awarded the diplomas of approximately 900 students last night (Friday, May 26, 2017). The 2-hour commencement ceremony was held at Purcell Pavilion on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. (Click here to see browse the photo gallery below; you can right click to save & download high res images for printing 4×6 or 5×7 pictures. For official graduation pictures taken by HR Imaging, please click here.)

Click below to watch the graduation video.

As a whole, Penn’s Class of 2017 has earned nearly $8.5 million in scholarships to date! The graduating class includes 12 National Merit Scholarship Finalists, 275 students who are set to earn a High Honors Diploma, 413 students who are in line to earn an Academic Honors Diploma, and 85 students who will earn a Technical Honors Diploma.

This year’s graduating class has 19 valedictorians and three salutatorians! The valedictorians’ GPAs range from 4.4904 – 4.3846.

The valedictorians are: Muqsit Buchh, Balajimonesh Devireddy, Alex Dobbins, Will Gruber, Keegan Hurst, David Kim, Sanjana Kulkarni, Julia Kwak, Mason Lee, Hannah McGinness, Logan McGuire, Baker Nasser, Cole Pollyea, Peter Rutkowski, Hannah Selis, Matthew Shan, Emma Schultz, Evan Shreiner and Kacey Wood.

Collectively the valedictorians gave a speech at the start of the ceremony; the theme … “Unforgettable Characters!” Each student explained who his or her favorite character or person is and why. Using examples like Mike Wazowski from Monster’s Inc. to NBA and Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook, the students explained how their character inspired them and exemplified how to overcome adversity and succeed. Click here to  watch a video of all  19 of the  valedictorian speeches.

The salutatorians are Sam Battalio, Annaliza Canda and Michelle Tapp.

This was Principal Hope’s 11th and last graduation as principal of Penn High School. Hope recently announced that he is moving to Goshen Community Schools as their new Assistant Superintendent effective July 1st. Dr. Thacker thanked Principal Hope for his years of service; students and parents showed their appreciation with a standing ovation.