Penn High School’s Isaac Loutzenhiser is again the State of Indiana's Individual State Champion in the Indiana  Wildlife Habitat Education Career Development Contest.

Loutzenhiser repeated as state champion in the 2017 competition. Only four other students statewide have achieved this accomplishment of repeating as a state champion, and all of them were from Penn High School.

Penn’s Elena Effertz placed second in the state.

Loutzenhiser and Effertz’s 1-2 finish, along with the scoring of teammates Coy Harris and Arithon Effertz, led to a third-place team showing for Penn in the 2017 State contest held at Purdue University's Wright Center for Forestry Research.

The contest consists of four parts an Identification Segment including up to 53 species of Indiana Wildlife; a 100 Question Test over the animal species, their habitats, feed, and behaviors; a Wildlife Habitat Management Practices section where the competitors match the appropriate practices for the animals selected for a specific site, and the Team Activity where the four members of the team create a Wildlife Management Plan for eight species of animals at a specific contest habitat site.

Penn’s team is coached by Mel Lenig.

Penn High School’s Academic Super Bowl Science Team, coached by Breanna Berkheiser, earned a state championship on May 6 in competition at Purdue University. The Penn Math team and the Penn Interdisciplinary team each placed second in the state.

At the state level, Baker Nasser, Matthew Shan, and Muqsit Buchh represented Penn in the science round of the competition.  Other students that were in attendance at the state competition were Haasan Kazi, Alvin Wang, Amy Bernard, Ali Sualeh, Seunghooon Sun, Corey Wang, Riya Patel, Emily Duchine, Tingyi Lu, and Chelsea Chen. 

Students that are involved with the team but not in attendance at the state competition are Sanjana Kulkarni, Annaliza Canda, Drason Chow, Fezaan Kazi, Daniel Kline, Komal Kumar, Michelle Kwok, Ahsan Siddiqui, Zainab Nasser, and Nikita Patel.

​"I am very pleased that the students' hard work paid off with their ultimate goal of winning a state championship,” Berkheiser said. “Competing for Science ASB is not just about the one year of work that gets put into learning and studying the content (although that is a very large part of it).  It is also a result of the students' own motivation to learn while previously taking a variety of rigorous science courses offered to them at Penn that have built up a solid foundation of scientific understanding. 

“This championship is also a result of many roles on our team working together,” Berkheiser continued.  “Although the "face" of the team in a competition can only be a few students, there are many important roles on the team that really worked together to result in taking the state title."
 

TCU/Freed Field will undergo construction this summer May 10 running through August. Beginning May 10, the parking area nearest the football field designated as Fitness Center parking will be utilized for construction and fencing has been installed.

Open Swim and Learn to Swim patrons, effective now – July 19, will need to enter Penn through the front at Door D. You will be able to use the Penn’s front parking lot. You will NOT have access to the back parking lot or Door E.

In June, the curved drive north of the field will be blocked for construction. The sidewalk will be available along this drive only. All traffic into the arena lot will be designated for construction, delivery and emergency traffic only during this 4-6 week period. Fitness Center parking will be available along the East Drive during this time.

On June 8-9, the North Drive access to Freed Field will be blocked for construction purposes. All access to the back (East) of Penn High School should be directed to Jefferson Road entrance.

Parents dropping off or picking up students from Kingsmen Athletic Summer Camps taking place at Freed Field or any other camps at Penn will need to use the Jefferson Road (East Side) or Front entrances.

Due to the construction, the Fitness Center entrance will move to Door H starting on June 8.  

Only delivery traffic and construction vehicles will be permitted in the Arena Lot during construction for safety of all and traffic logistics.

The Fitness Center entrance at Door H will be programmed the same as door G. Patrons visiting the Fitness Center should park in the lots south of the dock area only. Fitness Center parking will be permitted south of Door H after 3 p.m.

Principal Steve Hope and the Kingsmen Club honored the seven 2017 retiring educators at the Penn vs. South Bend St. Joseph baseball game on May 12.

Merilee Britt (Integrated Chemistry and Physics) has nine years of service at Penn High School.

Sue Campbell (Counseling Center receptionist) has 15.5 years of service at Penn High School.

Steve Cisczcon (Geography) has 33 years at Penn as both a teacher and Athletic trainer.

Karen Czarkowski (Visitors Booth and Attendance Aide) has 21 years of service at Penn.

David Dutton (Speech/Drama/English) has 20 years of service at Penn.

Becky Lutkus (Spanish) has 22 years of service at Penn.

Laura McKenzie (Math) has 12 years of service at Penn.

Penn High School students spent seven hours, an entire school day, on May 15 building prototypes of tools that could help people with disabilities perform their jobs more efficiently and increase their pay. The “Build Day” is part of a larger ADEC Penn Innovation Challenge that was created to challenge engineering and robotics students to put their skills to use and give back to the community. Community mentors came in to help the STEM Academy engineering students. 

Penn partnered with ADEC to develop assistive technology devices that will help workers at ADEC Industries, a nonprofit company that provides packaging and assembly services while employing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

ADEC had a real-world problem for students to work on: How to save jobs and increase wages at ADEC Industries. Clients at other ADEC locations have already been selling products like dog biscuits and wooden signs, but the demand is too high to keep the products stocked on the shelves.

ADEC presented three categories for Penn students to focus on and find solutions for:
 

• BAKE: ADEC’s Bow Wow Dog Biscuits are the nonprofits most popular product, so they sell out faster than clients can produce them.
• BUILD: ADEC clients make and sell sturdy furniture like benches and chests, but it is a time-consuming process taking a lot of one-on-one work
• BALANCE: Custom wood signs are a top seller in ADEC’s art store, but the process of locking in the wood for the CNC machine is tidious and confusing for some.

Over the past several months, 77 teams of students have toured ADEC’s facilities, talked with clients and came up with possible solutions to these challenge areas.  After two days of presentations the week of April 27, the 77 teams were whittled down to 10 finalist teams.

Teams from Mishawaka High School also presented alongside Penn students. Ultimately, one team from Mishawaka and nine from Penn were chosen as finalists to build their prototype. The team from Mishawaka worked on their prototype at Mishawaka High School.
 

The Teams had their entire school day to work on the prototypes of the designs. Next up for the students, on Monday, May 22, the students will pitch and present their prototypes to a panel of judges at ADEC offices in Elkhart.

From those final presentations on May 22, ADEC will choose one winning team. The students of the winning team will be offered paid internships this summer to work on their projects. Sibley Machine, one of Penn’s Community Partners, will host the students and pay for their internships.

The weather couldn’t have been better on Wednesday morning (May 10) for Penn Biology teacher John Gensic (2016 Teacher of the Year) and his nearly 100 Early College Biology students.

Gensic and his students departed on buses headed for Horizon, Elsie Rogers and Mary Frank Schools to plant dwarf fruit trees with the help of an estimated 324 elementary students. Today was the final step of the Phase 1 planting phase which began in the spring of 2016 at Horizon Elementary.

The “Giving Trees” project was the brainchild of Gensic, P-H-M’s 2016 Teacher of the Year and top 10 finalist for Indiana TOY. The project was made possible by a 2016 grant from the P-H-M Education Foundation . Funding this year was a combination of grant money, Gensic’s P-H-M TOY grant money from the Education Foundation, and a donation made by Springhope Farm.

The idea behind the project is for students to participate in a real world event that not only focuses on improving the local environment, but also provides food for the Penn-Harris-Madison school community. It is Gensic’s hope that all the students involved in the project, elementary and high school, will be inspired to become agents of change leading the charge for a healthy environment and community.

The “Giving Trees” project is a four-phase plan with Phase 1 completed on the final planting day on May 15 at Elm Road Elementary. Phases 2, 3 and 4 will be the harvesting of the fruit for use in P-H-M’s schools; and if all goes well, Gensic also hopes to provide fruit for the local community.

When all the planting is done, there will be a total of 64 fruit trees planted between Horizon, Mary Frank, Elsie Rogers and Elm Road. Out of the 64 trees, 40 are apple and 24 are pear trees.

Academically, this project will have the high school students focusing on Indiana Biology Standards 2 (matter cycles and energy transfer) and Biology Standard 3 (interdependence). The elementary students will also focus on Indiana Science and Language Arts Standards as a way to reinforce this great experience.

Please check out the pictures below taken at Elsie Rogers Elementary.

Penn High School Principal Steve Hope and Penn-Harris-Madison Supt. Dr. Jerry Thacker honored Penn High School’s Class of 2017 at Senior Recognition Night on Tuesday, May 9.

The Class of 2017 features 19 Valedictorians – 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 – will represent Penn’s Class of 2017 as valedictorians at the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 26 at the University of Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion.

The valedictorians boast a GPA range of 4.4904 to 4.3846. In addition, three of the students – Sam Battalio, Annaliza Canda and Michelle Tapp – were named salutatorians.

Penn’s Class of 2017, which includes 886 prospective graduates, has earned nearly $8.5 million in scholarships to date! The  graduating class  also features 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.

Kacey Wood, who will attend Indiana University, was named the Kingsman of the Year, an award determined by the senior students. Wood, one of this year’s valedictorians, attended Discovery Middle School and Northpoint Elementary School.

Nathanael Boone, who will attend Dartmouth University, was named the winner of the Schmucker Award, which is based on a vote by the Penn High School faculty and staff. Boone was a defensive lineman and named Region All-Star Team in January. He attended Schmucker Middle School and Elsie Rogers Elementary School. 

Reagan Johanson, who will attend Indiana University, was awarded the Donna and Dr. Jerry Thacker Scholarship. Johanson attended Schmucker Middle School and Prairie Vista Elementary School.

Baker Nasser, who will attend Indiana University, earned the prestigious Wells Scholarship.

Click here for the complete list of award and scholarship winners for the Class of 2017.

The Penn-Harris-Madison Education Foundation recently announced the recipients of the Spring 2017 grants—with grants totaling $16,640!

Traditional Grant Recipients

Kelso’s Kit: Tools for Kids – Horizon Elementary – Joann Hartline’ Grade K-5  —  300 students; Awarded: $636.73
Kelso’s Kit includes 23 comprehensive lessons that help children make good choices and solve conflicts on their own. The kit will give classroom teachers and/or college practicum students additional tools needed to help students with their everyday life difficulties.

iPod Touches for Walt Disney’s A/V Team

iPod Touches for Walt Disney’s A/V Team – Walt Disney Elementary – Robi Davidson, Emily Beeden; Grades K-4  —  510 students
Awarded: $597
The purchase of the iPods (3) will allow the AV team to record live broadcasts and to connect to other forms of media. In addition, the iPods will allow the team to explore new technologies such as music recording, computer coding, app review, and more extensive photo and video editing.

Wiggling Our Way to Success – Mary Frank Elementary – Lindsay Helman; Grades 3  —  40 students; Awarded: $1,432.34
Alternative seating at Mary Frank will support students who have difficulty focusing. In addition, these seats provide health benefits that include increased metabolism, motivation and engagement, creating better oxygen flow to the brain, and improve core strength.

Strumming Our Way To Musical Success – Horizon Elementary – Jon West and Jeannie Chettleburgh; Grades K-5 — 650 students
Awarded: $1,170
Recently, due to the increase use by pop performers, the Ukulele has quickly risen in popularity. The creates a phenomenon whereby students are expressing a desire to learn to play chords and sing with the Ukulele. The teachers intend to use this natural interest to continue to each the Indiana Music Standards using Ukuleles.

The Walking Classroom – Moran Elementary – Louise Black; Grades 5 — 80-90 students
Awarded: $3,950
Student learning is not limited to sitting in the classroom. This program would allow for a class to walk around/throughout the hallways while listening to pod-casts lessons. Each student audio device is preloaded with 111 pod-casts that are aligned with the 5th grade Common Core curriculum covering language arts, social studies, and health topics.

Documenting Bat Activity in an Urban Habitat – Elm Road School – Jackie Anderson; Grade K-5 —  520 students
Awarded: $323.61
From a school’s FIRST Lego League team, this bat house is located on the edges of the school ground. A remote camera, with infrared lighting, will allow students to observe the natural patterns of bats.

Penn Orchestra – Barrage 8 –  Penn High – Ann Tschetter (P-H-M’s 2017 Teacher of the Year); Grades 9-12 —  20 students
Awarded: $450
Earlier in the year, Penn High School hosted an international string group – Barrage 8 – whose focus is to introduce student to the new eclectic and contemporary side of being a string performer. Furthermore, Penn currently houses contemporary music performing groups in band and choir, but not orchestra. This inspired the teacher to create a before or after-school group where students would take their classical training to a “show” format. Students will learn a wide variety of popular, ethnic jazz, and show tunes. The grant will support purchasing 5 musical instruments for students to perform.

Cafetorium Acoustic Development – Grissom Middle – Heather Baker; Grades 6-8 —  600 students
Awarded: $5,181.39
The school’s cafetorium is used for numerous events throughout the school year, including meetings and conferences. The current sound situation involves outdated technology and bare walls to enable a massive amount of reverb and echo. A new system would increase the quality for musical performances, student news programs, athletic events, and student body assemblies.

Serving Students with Calming Sensory Tools – Elm Road – Audrey Kim; Grades K-5 —  520 students
Awarded: $800
As an educational assistant, the teacher has helped students with anger and behavior issues using sensory tools. Students have enjoyed using manipulative tools to help them calm down. Creating boxes that are readily available for students to help channel their frustrations in appropriate ways.

EZ grant recipients ($250 or less)
 

• Occupational Therapy Materials: Mary Frank Elementary – Tess Weaver; Grade PreK-8; Awarded: $246.67
• Book Clubs in the Classroom – Not Just for Adults; Prairie Vista Elementary – Karen Hlade; Grade 5; Awarded: $244.43
• Electronics Components for Updated Physics Curriculum; Penn High School; Jonathan Lockwood; Grades 11-12; Awarded: $225
• Aquaponics Experiments to Promote a Sustainable Food Future; Penn High School – John Gensic; Grades 9-12; Awarded: $247.99
• It’s All About the Bass Bow; Discovery/P-H-M Middle School Orchestras – April Oppenheim; Grade 6-8; Awarded: $234
• Bike to Build Muscles! Walt Disney Elementary – Kathy Greve; Grades K; Awarded: $250
• Take a Stand; Discovery Middle – Murray Weaver; Grades 6-8; Awarded: $250
• Pay Attention! Elsie Rogers Elementary – Stefanie Hanks; Grade K-5; Awarded: $245
• Table Top Easels; Penn PALS/Elsie Rogers Preschool – Alison Minegar; Grades Preschool; Awarded $250

As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1996, the PHMEF develops alternative sources of income to support learning while strengthening the partnership between schools and community.

Since the Foundation’s inception, more than $520,000 have been distributed in innovative teaching grants supporting P-H-M teachers, staff, and students. Click here to see the grants awarded Fall 2016. The Grants Committee is comprised of Foundation board members, community representatives, and a P-H-M administrator who evaluate each grant application.

Dedicated business leaders, administrators, and community volunteers, representing a cross-section of the school community, serve as the board of directors. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

PHMEF’s funding comes from special events such as its premier Silver Mile Health & Fitness Fair, Donna & Dr. Jerry Thacker 5K Run/Walk for Education, the State of Indiana from the purchase of Read On Education License plates, Corporations for Education, Thank a Teacher, Entrance to Excellence bricks, and individual donations.

The Silver Mile was held this past weekend (Saturday, May 6).  First place overall male race winner was Penn’s Colton Shail, Junior track and cross country runner at Penn High School, with a time of 16:29.9. First place overall female was Erin Moore, 13-year-old Niles student, with a time of 20:07.6.

Meadow's Edge Elementary earned the top participation P-H-M school prize and will receive a $5,000 grant to be used for a fitness/health program.

Coming in at second place was Northpoint Elementary. They will receive a $1,000 grants. The school with the third most student participation was Madison, and they will receive a $500 grant.

Overall there were 500 participants in this year’s race.

This year’s Health and Fitness Fair was a huge success featuring health screenings by Saint Joseph Mishawaka Medical Center.

Healthy post-race snacks were provided by Whole Foods Market. Urban Swirl also helped runners cool off with frozen yogurt cups.

Penn Robotics Team 135 setup robot test drives so that younger children could learn to drive robots. And the Kingsmen Cheerleaders lent their face painting talents to make some prettier faces even prettier! Click here to see a list of  all this year’s sponsors. 

Penn Robotics closed out its 20th year of tournament competitions with a fourth-place finish in its division of 68 teams in the FIRST Robotics World Competition held last week (April 26-29) in St. Louis.

More than 700 teams from 33 countries competed in the FIRST Robotics World Competition.

Penn’s Team 135 had been as high as No. 2 in the qualification matches. The effort for Team 135 ended in the quarterfinal matches. More details on the overall team finishes can be found at https://www.thebluealliance.com/.

One of the highlights of the trip for the team was when three members –  Mia Heisler, Lizzie Heisler and Mackenzie Richards – kicked off the competition by singing the National Anthem before an audience of more than 20,000 at the Opening ceremonies held at the Edward Jones Dome.

The trip to World was a culmination of a great season for Team 135. The 36-student team won the coveted Chairman’s Award in previous back-to-back competitions: State Championship (Huntington, April 7-9) and Perry Meridian (Indianapolis, March 23-25).

Penn Robotics is led by Jim Langfeldt, Evan White, and Josiah Parker — the coordinators of this top-caliber FIRST Robotics team.

“Penn Robotics represented Indiana very well in St. Louis at the Championships last week,” Langfeldt said. “With a record of 9-1 and being seeded 4th in our division, the Penn Robotics team once again led their alliance into the finals before being eliminated in the quarter finals.” 

Team 135 is the only Indiana team to qualify for Championships every year in the district model. 

“This group of students worked tirelessly to iterate and improve on nearly every system on the robot!” Landfeldt said.  “I have never seen more dedication going into championships!

“Our State Champion Chairman's Award team made an overwhelming impact on the judges in the presentation room on Friday,” Langfeldt continued. “The work our entire team  puts into Chairman's (category) is the foundation of our experience!  This team continues to impress me with their willingness to spread FIRST and make a difference in our school and community!  It is more than robots!

Langfeldt said that having three of his students sing the national anthem at the Opening Ceremony was an added bonus.

“It was something I will never forget,” Langfeldt said of the Team 135 Trio singing the national anthem. “The diverse talents on our team this year has been an inspiration to everyone we have come in contact with.  I am very proud of the accomplishments Team 135 has made this season.”

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ALLISON ADAMS AND CHASE KIDDER.