Mark your calendars for the 12th Annual Silver Mile Run for Education & Health and Fitness Fair, hosted by the P-H-M Education Foundation.  This popular fun-filled family event will take place on Saturday, May 6 from 8:30 a.m. – noon at Penn High School. 

The Silver Mile Run for Education includes the Donna and Dr. Jerry Thacker Run for Education 5K Run/Walk, a festive Fun Walk around Penn High School campus and a Timed Mile Run on TCU Freed Field Track.  All events start and finish on the Penn High School track with finisher medals to all student-age participants. Cost to participate range from $12-$45 depending on event.  Register online atwww.phmef.org.

Join us for inside of Penn High School for more family friendly fun at the Health and Fitness Fair presented by Saint Joseph Health System Health Fair.

• Visit the Saint Joseph Health System Health Fair and participate in the numerous free health screenings and educational booths.
• Experience the high-energy, interactive Summer Family Fitness Expo featuring businesses and organizations presenting family summer and year-round fitness fun and education.
• The Silver Mile Silent Auction will again be bursting with items, including a full set of braces from Dr. Shawn Long, Penn High School parking passes and Zoom Teeth Whitening by Dr. Jeffrey Mader – and many more items and gift certificates from area businesses, restaurants and recreational favorites.
• P-H-M’s Got Talent!  Stop by the Main Arena for performances from our talented P-H-M groups, Grissom Drum Brigade, Elm Road Jumping Eagles, Meadow’s Edge Dance Club and Penn Dance.
• The Silver Mile also features tours of the Penn Art Gallery and Robotics Lab, Penn Summer Camp registration and much more. 

What a great way to kick off Spring and connect with our amazing community!  Visit www.phmef.org and the P-H-M Silver Mile Run for Education Facebook page for more information and updates.

Questions??  Contact Amber Kennedy, at amber@phmef.org

The IN District – St. Joseph Tournament is a qualifying event for the national FIRST Robotics Competition will be held March 10 – 12, 2017 at Penn High School. This is a community event and the first time a District Tournament has been held in Northern Indiana. A of 32 total teams will compete, including Penn’s own Team 135. Four other area high school teams will compete along with Penn: ElkLogics Team 2867 (Elkhart Schools), Las Pumas 2197 (New Prairie High School), Memento Vitam Team 5484 (S.B. Career Academy), and Riley WildBots Team 3865 (Riley High School).

WHEN: Friday, March 10 – Sunday, March 12, 2017

WHERE: Penn High School

EVENT SCHEDULE & DETAILS: http://www.indianafirst.org/2017-st-joseph-event

This year’s FIRST Robotics Competition Game Challenge was unveiled on Saturday, January 7, and Penn’s Team 135 just concluded their 6-week build season on February 21st. This is the 20th season of competitions for Penn.

The nearly 40-member student team competes in four competitions that run from March until the end of April:

• IN District – St. Joseph Tournament (Penn High School) March 10-12.
• Perry Meridian District Tournament (Indianapolis, IN) March 23-25.
• Indiana State Championships (Huntington, IN) April 6-8.
• FIRST National Championships (St. Louis, MO) April 26-29.

Last year, Penn Robotics Team 135 won awards in three competitions:  the “Judges’ Award” at the Tippecanoe District Tournament (West Lafayette, IN) on March 11-13, the “District Engineering Inspiration Award” at the Perry Meridian District Tournament (Indianapolis, IN) on March 24-26, and the “Regional Engineering Inspiration Award” at the Indiana State Championships in Kokomo on April 14-16.  Team 135 was also honored with a $5,000 award from NASA to pay their entry fee for the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri.  The team is looking forward to another exciting competition season. 

Team 135 also gives back to the community through various projects. In May 2016, several team members collaborated with other Penn students to build an aluminum walker for a local first grader who could not speak and had difficulty walking.  The “Voice for Braylen” project enabled Braylen to move around with better stability and gave him the ability to speak through the use of a tablet attached to the walker.  It was a problem based learning project that not only benefited Braylen, but taught the robotics students the importance of helping others.

In May of 2015, Penn Robotics students built a prosthetic arm for a third grade Madison Elementary student in the “Hand of Grace” project.  It is also a part of Team 135’s regular activities to visit P-H-M’s elementary and middle schools to inspire younger students and invoke interest in STEM classes, activities and eventual careers.

Through participation in FIRST Robotics Competition, the Penn robotics students experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology and innovation. They learn to build well-rounded life capabilities such as self-confidence, communication and leadership, while also qualifying for over $50 million in college scholarships!

Penn High School will host a Fine Arts Festival on Thursday, March 9. This is a free event that is open to the public.

6:00 p.m. – works of Visual Arts students on display in the art hallway.

6:30 p.m. – Chamber groups perform in the art hallway.

8 p.m. – Theater, Dance, Band, Choir and Orchestra Performances in the Center for Performing Arts.

“The Fine Arts Festival gives students, parents and the community a chance to see all of the great work that our talented students are doing in a single evening,” Penn’s Fine Arts Academy leader Glenn Northern said. “We encourage everyone to come to the Fine Arts Festival on Thursday, March 9th.”

Students taking the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) at Penn High School on Saturday, March 11, should enter at Door A, which will open at 7:30 a.m.

You are required to bring a current recognizable picture ID and your admission ticket. You will not be admitted to the test without your picture ID and admission ticket. 

Bring No. 2 pencils and an approved calculator. No mechanical pencils. You may bring a bottle of water and a snack for the breaks.

Penn High School students excelled in the Indiana Technology Student Association state finals at Ball State University on Saturday, March 4.

Penn won 24 awards, more than all of the other competing schools combined. Penn TSA students qualified for the national finals in Orlando, Fla., in June.

Daniel Nilov was named the state TSA student president, and Giancarlo Smith was named the state Sergeant at Arms.

Penn instructor Steve Sinish was named the adviser of the year.

 Placing for Penn at state were:

• Daniel Nilov: – 1st Place Architectural Design, 1st Place CAD 2D Architecture.

• Giancarlo Smith – 1st Place Dragster Design, 2nd Place Computer Integrated Manufacturing

• Aaron Jackson – 1st Place Future Technology Teacher 

• Daniel Kline – 1st Place Coding 

• Dat Loung – 1st Place Coding 

• Mia Schwartz – 1st Place STEM Careers, 3rd Place Engineering Design 

• Alex Pippin –  2nd Place Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 1st Place CAD 3D Engineering. 

• Courtney Sharpe – 2nd Place Engineering Design 

• Keegan Shoemaker – 3rd Place Engineering Design

• Tara Devaraj – 2nd Place Engineering Design 

• Elisabeth Casetti – 2nd Place Engineering Design

• Michelle Kwok – 2nd Place Technology Problem Solving, 3rd Place Engineering Design

• Sabrina Kurian – 2nd Place Technology Problem Solving 

• Emily Duchine – 2nd Place CAD 2D Architecture, 2nd Place STEM Careers

• Charlotte Chang – 3rd Place CAD 3D Architecture

• Riya Patel – 3rd Place CAD 2D Architecture

• Dhruv Khanna – 1st Place Architectural Design 

• Steve Sinish – TSA Advisor of the year

   

Penn High’s Academic Super Bowl teams opened the season with a competition at the Warsaw Invitational on Monday, March 7.

Math and Fine Arts each earned first places in the event.

Penn’s Science team placed second. 

Penn High’s Kingsmen nearly pulled off one of the biggest upset in its Boys Basketball history, but Elkhart Central’s Cornell Conner hit a putback as time expired to give the Blue Blazers a 75-73 triple overtime victory in Class 4-A Sectional action on Central’s home court.

Central (20-2) beat Penn 65-48 in the regular season.

Penn’s season ends 10-13.

Sophomore wing Drew Lutz led Penn with 23 points.

Noah Applegate, a 6-foot-5 sophomore wing, scored 21 points for Penn.

Senior Brian Doslak scored 13 for Penn.

PENN 73: Drew Lutz 23, Drew Schneider 2, Brian Doslak 13, Beau Ludwick 5, Noah Applegate 21, Matt McCown 0, Connor Schneider 9.

Elkhart Central 75: Trenton Culbreath 0, Desmond Johnson 0, Kenyatta Young 0, Cornell Conner 23, Adonis Brown 28, J.T. Webb 0, Michael Boone 0, DeVeon Jackson 13, Brycen Sherwood 6, Andrew Salmon 5.

PENN                    18           16           16           8              9              6              0 – 73

Elkhart Central  10           8              17           23           9              6              2 – 75

Three-pointers: PENN  7 (Doslak 4, Lutz 2, Ludwick 1), Elkhart Central 4 (Sherwood 2, Conner 1, Brown 1).

Penn placed third in the Speech Sectionals/State Qualifier on Saturday, Feb. 25.

Ten students from Penn qualified for state:

• Colin Lucero-Dixon – 1st in Discussion.

• Max Bernstein and Cameron Carpenter – 3rd and 5th in Radio Broadcasting.

• Sanjana Kulkarni and Payton Holland – 2nd and 5th in Informative Speaking.

• Komal Kumar – 6th in Original Oratory.

• Elizabeth Carrier – 5th in Poetry Interpretation.

• Caroline Carrier – 3rd in Impromptu Speaking.

• Andrew Galang – 5th Humorous Interpretation.

• Lyvia Li – 2nd in U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking.

Aspiring Animation Professional Scholarship

• For a high school senior who intends to pursue an animation related field in post-secondary school or college. Application and essay are submitted online at www.animationcareerreview.com

• Online Application Due: June 1, 2017.

Aspiring Business Professional Scholarship

• For a high school senior who intends to pursue a business related field at a post-secondary school or college. Application and essay are submitted online at www.onlinembareport.com

• Online Application Due: June 1, 2017.

Aspiring Fashion Professional Scholarship

• For a high school senior who intends to pursue a fashion related field at a post-secondary school or college. Application and essays are submitted online at www.fashion-schools.org

• Online Application Due: June 1, 2017.

Click here to vote!

Penn Junior Jack Neubauer is one of seven area high school students competing for their artwork to be chosen for the 2017 U93 “Roofsit.”

Roofsit is a multi-county event hosted each year by Martin’s Super Markets and U93 to raise funds for child abuse prevention programs in in Indiana and Michigan. In addition to the dollars raised, Roofsit brings attention to the issue of child abuse to the entire community over five days. Roofsit takes place June 19-23, 2017.

Neubauer is competing against other student artists from Adams, Clay, Marian, Mishawaka, St. Joe and Washington high schools. All the creations are featured on the Roofsit Facebook page  and are competing for votes.

So cast your vote for Jack Neubauer. You can vote once per day until March 31^st.

The winning logo will be revealed on April 22 during the annual Prevent Child Abuse “Safe at Home Night” at Four Winds Field.

Roofsit sponsors include U93, Martin’s Super Markets, Prevent Child Abuse St. Joseph County and Youth Service Bureau. 

All funds from Roofsit stay in a five-county area. Partner agencies apply for grants focused on child abuse prevention, education, and services for victims.  In 2016, more than $160,000 was raised during Roofsit. Grants were awarded to 11 agencies.

More than 15,000 cases of child abuse and neglect are reported in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties each year. 

For more information about Roofsit, or Prevent Child Abuse St. Joseph County, visit roofsit.org.