Topic: Homework

Sources:

Principal: What happened when my school ended useless homework

A new wrinkle in the research about the real value of homework

Homework survey shows teacher-parent divide

Why the dog eats Nikki's homework: making informed assignment decisions

Topic: Type of Schooling

Sources

Less homework, shorter days: the Finnish touches

KIPP charter school wants to build on success

EDITORIAL: Study points the way to better public schools

Students using laptops and tablets in class perform worse on exams, study says

Preparing students for real-life futures

Two schools of Thought: High-tech vs. No-tech

Giving children computers basically does the opposite of what you'd expect

Topic: Technology addiction

Sources

Half of teens 'feel addicted' to tech. What's to be done?

D.A.R.E. to Keep Kids off Tech

Balanced Technology Diet Prescribed for Teens, Parents; Technology Addiction: Concern, Controversy, and Finding Balance

When a High Tech Habit Becomes Unhealthy

Kids' media time adds up, subtracts from homework; interest in learning new things also shrinks with greater screen time, pediatricians find

Attack of the tech-savvy toddlers; kids as young as 2 years old are downloading content to cell phones, computers, and portable digital music players, according to a report from NPD group

Topic: Parent/Teacher surveillance and privacy

Sources

Schools are helping police spy on kids' social media activity

Sophomore wing Drew Lutz scored 14 points to lead four Penn scorers in double figures, and the Kingsmen rolled to a 66-37 victory against Bremen in Northern Indiana Conference high school basketball.

Senior point guard Brian Doslak scored 12 points, and senior post Connor Schneider and sophomore wing Noah Applegate scored 10 points each. Penn almost had five players in double-figure scoring, as Riley Smith scored nine points.

Penn bolted to a 13-0 lead, and led 20-6 after one quarter.

Penn connected on 27-of-48 shooting (56 percent), including 5-of-10 three pointers. Bremen was 14-of-36 (38 percent) and hit 6-of-15 from 3-point range.

Penn owned a 29-16 rebounding edge, including a 10-3 advantage in offensive rebounds. That helped the Kingsmen to a 12-2 margin in second-chance points.

PENN 66: Drew Lutz 14, Connor Schneider 10, Noah Applegate 10, Brian Doslak 12, Riley Smith 9, Noah Krathwohl 8, Stuart Feeley 3, Beau Ludwick 2, Matt McCown 2, Luke Carlton 0, Drew Schneider 0.

BREMEN 37: Chandler Snyder 14, Zach Burkholder 6, Dominic Lopez 5, Jacob Strehler 4, Brooks Feldman 3, Matt Box 3, Cole George 2, Ryan Caldwell 0, Bryce Ginter 0, Grant Klockow 0, Bryce Sterling 0, Jacob Wunder 0.

PENN    20           10           20           16 – 66

Bremen 6            8              13           10 – 37

Three-pointers:  PENN 5 (Lutz 2, Doslak 2, Feeley 1), Bremen 6 (Snyder 4, Lopez 1, Box 1).

On January 28^th, Team 6360 Brazen Bots, a Penn High School FTC Robotics team, traveled to Lafayette to attend the “Bash at the Wabash.”

There, they ran their robot and presented their progress over the season.

In the robotics side of the event, they placed 13th overall out of 32, a lot better than they had expected.

During the competition, Team 6360 encountered a robot failure. This caused the team to quickly fix the problems, like the bent bar that holds up the shooter, and a few things on programming and binding controls.

The competition was also enlightening in many other ways for Team 6360. They got to see what FTC competitions look like, and how good you can really be.

It really inspired them to work a little harder, and also allowed them to have a better understanding of the game and what things work best.

Penn’s High School’s acclaimed Jazz event, “An Evening of Jazz”, will be on Friday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at St. Mark Missionary Church (55240 Bittersweet Rd, Mishawaka, IN 46545).

Tickets are $15, and include a dinner from Papa Vino’s Restaurant (​lasagna, salad, bread, dessert, water, and coffee).

Formerly known as “Jazz at the Palace,” the event features performances by the Penn High School Jazz Ensembles, Middle School Jazz Ensembles, and Concord High School Jazz Band.

Dr. Matt Pivec, Director of Jazz Studies at Butler University, is the guest artist.

Limited tickets still available! Contact Sheri Campeau – mikeandsheri99@gmail.com

By ANDREW SPALDING

Pennant Reporter

Penn High School’s Girls Swimming and Diving team added to its golden legacy, as the Kingsmen captured their 15th straight sectional title and 26th overall. Penn’s total of 26 sectional championships in swimming is the fourth most in the state. Click here for complete results.

Penn defended its home pool on Saturday, Feb. 4, racking up 522 points, 90 more than the second-place team, South Bend St. Joseph. Penn won seven of 12 events,  with nine different state-cut swims from 7 different swimmers.

Penn winners include the 200 medley relay (Madilyn Zeigert, Kionna Clayton, Makenna Bottorff, Meagan Ronci), which set both a pool and sectional record.

Kayla Molnar won the 200 freestyle with a time 1:52.43 and qualified for state.

Makenna Bottorff won the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.49, just a second off the pool record.

Meagan Ronci took the blue ribbon in the 100 freestyle.

Kayla Molnar struck again and won the 500 freestyle by an impressive nine seconds with a time of 4:59.18.

Penn’s 200 freestyle relay team (Meagan Ronci, Makenna Bottorff, Madilyn Ziegert, Kayla Molnar) set another pool and sectional record with a time of 3:29.18.

State cut swims include Maddie Ziegert in the 50 free, Kionna Clayton in the 100 breaststroke.

The final Standings were:

1. Penn 522

2. St. Joe 432

3. Riley 407

4. New Prairie 186

5. Bremen 167

6. Adams 141

7. Clay 96

7. Mishawaka 96

9. Marian 86

10. Washington 46

Penn High School students Renee Yaseen and Siddarth Das earned awards at the Model United Nations conference at Notre Dame on Feb. 4. 

Yaseen won outstanding delegate representing Somalia in the Disarmament and International Security Committee.  Student delegates debated and created resolutions on issues of autonomous weapons and arms trading.

Das won best position paper representing India in the World Health Organization. Student delegates debated and created resolutions for the Zika virus and sustainability of clean water. 

As President Trump was sworn into office on January 20, seven Penn students were in D.C. to witness the history being made for the year 2017 at the 45th Presidential Inauguration in front of the Nation’s Capitol Building.

The students who went on the trip not only went to the inauguration, but toured a handful of museums and memorials such as The Holocaust Museum, The Air and Space Museum in the Smithsonian, the Arlington Cemetery; where they had the chance to see John F. Kennedy's final resting place as well as seeing the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Tomb of the unknown soldier.

The group also visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Pentagon Memorial, and The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial. The group also toured Ford’s Theatre, where President Lincoln was assassinated, and was enlightened by the National Archives.

America is full with different people with different beliefs and religions, so it’s understandable that there would be a considerable amount of protests in the streets of Washington D.C.

“There was a women’s protest, which was really crowded,” said Kennedy Smith. “It was really cool though seeing democracy and the First Amendment in action, but because the crowd was so gigantic, it made me feel uneasy at times.”

Sydney Seigel appreciated the opportunity to be part of the event.

“This inauguration is definitely going to go down in history, and so the fact that I got to be a part of that, as well as part of the Woman's March the next day, is astounding,” Seigel said. “Experiencing the climate of both Inauguration day and the Protest the next day was definitely eye-opening.

“While the living history part was incredible; one of the best parts of the trip was meeting students from other schools and getting to know the small group that I went with.” 

When the students headed back to Indiana, Mrs. Pettine, the main supervisor of the trip, said that her goal is for Penn students to have an outstanding experience.

 “I hope they just enjoyed themselves and being in the space and place of our nation’s governance.” 

Penn High School’s Debate Team placed fourth in the state in competition in Kokomo on Saturday, Jan. 28.

Penn is the only school in the St. Joseph County that offers debate in general, so competition could be hard to hard at times, but the students were never bothered with the traveling and overnight trips.

“I always tell them to do their best and to represent themselves, along with Penn High School, well and they generally do,” Penn Speech and Debate teacher Mr. David Dutton said. “These students live up to the reputation and expectations that had been set up for them.”

Students who placed in the state debate competition were:

• Annie Zakrzewski and Bryce Yoder placed second for Public Forum Debate.

• Nicholas Casetti and Renee Yaseen both placed third for Policy Debate.

• The World School Debate team placed eighth and that team included Elizabeth Carrier, Hannah Keeler, Reis Kennedy, and Curtis Whitt.

• Payton Holland was an octa-finalist for the Lincoln Douglas debate.

• Student Congress semi-finalists: Dylan Quiggle, Cage Thompson, and Colin Lucero-Dixon.

Penn High School’s Symphonic and Chamber Orchestras treated guests to an evening of casual music in the school’s Instructional Materials Center. 

Penn student James Campbell captured the event with a photo gallery.

Next month, Penn High School will host the IN District – St. Joseph Tournament. Penn expects to host 32 teams for the qualifying FIRST Robotics Competition. The event will be held March 10-12 at Penn, the first time a district tournament has been held in northern Indiana.

It will take a lot of help to pull off a competition of this scale. Therefore, Penn Robotics Team 135 and the FIRST League are looking for volunteers! They need the community’s help in filling volunteer and coordinator positions for this major community tournament. Your reward for helping out?!? The satisfaction that you will be helping to motivate hundreds students pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering!

Five of the 32 teams competing in the event are from local area schools:  ElkLogics Team 2867 (Elkhart Schools); Las Pumas 2197 (New Prairie High School); Memento Vitam Team 5484 (S.B. Career Academy); Riley WildBots Team 3865 (Riley High School); and Penn Robotics Team 135 (Penn High School).

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that challenges high-school students, working alongside professional Mentors, to construct a robot for competition. The ultimate Sport for the Mind™ measures the effectiveness of each robot, the power of teamwork and collaboration, and each team's display of Gracious Professionalism ®. Through their participation, students experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology, and innovation; build well-rounded life capabilities such as self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Interested volunteers should sign up via the link below for the Volunteer Information and Matching System (VIMS). After a screening process, VIMS matches and schedules volunteers with open event positions.

VIMS link:

https://my.firstinspires.org/FIRSTPortal/Login/VIMS_Login.aspx

Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sjdistrict/

Event page:

http://www.indianafirst.org/2017-st-joseph-event