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.

Penn High School’s Fine Arts Academy presents the musical “Kiss Me Kate” at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 3-4, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 5.

The production will be at Penn’s Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets are $12 at the door, or $10 pre-sale. Click here to buy tickets online today.

Taqia Heryadi, a sophomore at Penn, was named to the FIRST Robotics Dean’s List and is one of three students to represent Indiana at the Robotics World Championships in St. Louis on April 26-30.

The Dean’s List recognizes the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding FIRST Tech Challenge students. Since its introduction in 2010, the FIRST Dean’s List Award has attracted the attention of prestigious colleges and universities who desire to recruit FIRST Dean’s List students. 

“Kia is a wonderful example of a student that embodies all that FIRST stands for,” Penn Robotics instructor Jim Langfeldt said. “In my 20 years of coaching robotics, I have not seen a better example of a team member putting the needs and interests of her team ahead of her own.  Kia brings happiness and joy to everything and everyone she surrounds.”

Langfeldt said that Heryadi plays an essential role on her FIRST Tech Challenge team.

“She is a natural leader, and steers the direction of her team,” Langfeldt said. “She leads the organization of the  engineering notebook, team outreach projects, and fundraising efforts. Taqia is very friendly and helps bridge the gap between the highly technical members and the outreach focused teammates. She is very well rounded and her communication skills are what set her apart from your typical FTC student.”

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 Run for Education includes a 5K Run/Walk, festive Fun Walk around the 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 ranges from $12-$45 depending on event.

Head inside Penn High School after your run, walk or stroll, and stop by the Health Fair, Summer Family Fitness Expo and the Silver Mile Silent Auction.  The Silver Mile also features select talent from several P-H-M students groups, tours of the Penn Robotics lab and Art Gallery, Penn Summer Camp registration and much more.  What a great way to kick off Spring and connect with our amazing community!

All proceeds benefit the P-H-M Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support excellence in education in all 15 P-H-M schools by awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

Please click here for early registration and be sure to check www.phmef.org for event updates.

Penn High School Orchestra presents the highly acclaimed Barrage 8, an innovative stage performance features all the instruments in the modern string family.

Members of Barrage 8 will work with Penn students on Monday, March 6 and Tuesday, March 7.

Barrage 8 will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7 at Penn’s Center for the Performing Arts. The concert will feature the Penn Orchestras along with orchestras from Schmucker, Grissom and Discovery Middle Schools..

Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students.

Click here to purchase tickets online through Barrage 8’s website, www.barrage8.com.