Penn student-athletes will participate in 25 events this week.
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The annual Penn High School Powder Puff game is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 28. The informational meeting/sign-up is Tuesday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. in the Penn High School Cafeteria. Click here for a schedule of practices and important information and forms to participate in the game.

Penn High School’s state championship girls basketball program will conduct a community-sponsored girls basketball league for girls in Grades 3-8. The league begins on Sunday, Sept. 11. Sign-up is on Sunday, Aug. 28 in the Penn High School Arena from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. The Junior League is for girls in Grades 3-6, and the Senior League is for girls in Grades 7-8. Click here for the Junior League (Grades 3-6) schedule and registration information. Click here for the Senior League (Grades 7-8) schedule and registration information.

Penn High School Principal Steve Hope announced several new appointments/changes for the start of the 2016-2017 School Year. The Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees approved (Monday, Aug. 8, 2016) Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker’s appointment of Randy Williams as Associate Principal at Penn High School. Along with Mr. Williams, Mr. Hope has named three new Academy Leaders: Laura McKenzie will serve as the Freshman Academy Leader, Shannon Gray will be the Health and Human Services Academy Leader, and Josiah Parker will be the Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Academy Leader.

Mr. Williams is returning to Penn after serving as Principal at both Madison and Walt Disney Elementary Schools. He will lead Student Services as Associate Principal.

Graduating with academic honors as the salutatorian at South Bend LaSalle High School, Mr. Williams then earned a degree in Education with a Science Endorsement at Indiana University. He graduated with distinction at Indiana University, and earned a Master’s in Education at Ball State.

“Mr. Williams is adept at building relationships, de-escalating tempers and helping students focus on learning,” Mr. Hope said. “His skills in these areas will serve us all well as he leads Student Services.”

Mr. Williams will also serve as the school safety specialist and work with McKenzie in leading the Freshman Academy. His wife, Bridget Williams, is the assistant athletic director at Penn High School. He coached baseball, girls basketball, softball at Penn, South Bend St. Joseph, and Elkhart Central, and also coached the Quiz Bowl team at Penn.

Ms. McKenzie was born and raised in Atlanta. She started her career at Georgia Federal Savings and Loan, and began to mentor and tutor students in her spare time.

After moving to Indiana, she began a career in education. She will continue to teach Math in addition to serving as the Freshman Academy Leader.

“Ms. McKenzie takes great delight in our students thriving and having the common language of the CTL literacy training,” Mr. Hope said.

Health and Human Services Academy Leader Ms. Gray, who teaches English/Language Arts, is a graduate of South Bend John Adams High School and Valparaiso University. She earned her Master’s in Education from Indiana University South Bend.

Ms. Gray has served as a Professional Learning Community Leader for English 11, English 10 and English 9.

“Ms. Gray has mentored many new teachers and has the great ability to create cohesive, high-functioning teams,” Mr. Hope said. “She is eager to support all teachers at Penn.”

Mr. Parker will be the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academy Leader. Mr. Parker is one of the leaders of the heralded “Hand Of Grace” project in which Penn students created prosthetic arm for a third-grade Madison Elementary student using 3-D printer technology.

Mr. Parker is a 2002 graduate of Lakeland High School in LaGrange, Ind. He graduated from Ball State University as an architecture major and transitioned to a degree in Engineering and Technology Education.

 “Mr. Parker’s goals are to connect our classes and students to projects within our community, create a STEM learning community where classes work collectively on projects, and help teachers find resources and funding to support the amazing things that they do in the classroom,” Mr. Hope added.

Penn High School will open its doors to incoming students and families from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 20, for the annual Walk Around. Students and families may enter Penn High School for the Walk Around through Doors A, B and C.

One purpose of the Walk Around is to give students the opportunity to walk through their schedule to find classes before the first day of school, which is Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Brief parent meetings at the Walk Around will be conducted at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. in LGI-A.

“The Walk Around is a great way to ease the nerves of incoming freshmen by meeting a Freshman Mentor to walk them through their schedule,” Penn High School counselor Marni Cronk said. “Students can also pick up Penn Spirit Wear, courtesy of the Booster Club.  Also, many clubs will be represented, so students have a chance to explore opportunities at Penn and get involved!”

National Night Out is celebrated by hundreds of communities across the United States on the first Tuesday in August. 

The annual event—now in its 33^rd year—brings together members of local law enforcement and the communities they serve in a free evening of food, fun and fellowship.

This year Michiana will celebrate National Night Out at Penn High School on Tuesday, August 2. 

The event will be from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. with all activities on Penn’s football practice field, adjacent to TCU Freed Field on the east side of the high school. 

Sponsored by St. Joseph County Police, along with other local businesses and community partners, there is no charge to park or attend. 

The weather forecasters are predicting a perfect summer evening, so plan to get out and get in on the fun! 

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation will host Technovation 2016, a digital learning initiative for educators across the Midwest, at Penn High School on Wednesday, July 20, and Thursday, July 21.

Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz will provide a welcome address to participants on Wednesday, and George Couros, author and leading educator in the field of innovative leadership, teaching and learning, will give the keynote address on Thursday morning.

At last year’s inaugural conference, more than 300 Indiana educators participated in the event, which offers a wide spectrum of innovative techniques to blend technology with teaching in order to increase student engagement and student achievement.

“In this digital environment, our students move from mere consumers of education to actual participants and producers of educational content,” Penn High School Principal Steve Hope said regarding the purpose of Technovation 2016. “The use of technology is simply another tool – a very powerful tool – to continue the work of inquiry, problem-solving, and critical thinking.”  

Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker noted P-H-M’s commitment to 1:1 student-to-technological device ratio at Penn High School and its three middle schools has played a key role in teaching and learning engagement in and outside the classroom.

“With a Chromebook at their side, our teachers and students will have the world at their fingertips,” Thacker said.

P-H-M teachers at the elementary, middle and high school levels, along with P-H-M administrators and staff, will deliver the presentations. Penn students will be on-hand to showcase and answer questions on the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science Lab tools used at the high school: augmented reality sandbox, UAV science drones, tornado generator and an earthquake machine (click here to see a “road map” of the Technovation classes).

Attendees will also see vendor demonstrations, such as zSpace, a 3D virtual learning tool. zSpace is an interactive hardware and software platform that brings resources to life through 3D technology helping students visualize and create.

“We see this as an opportunity for showcasing the talented teachers and students of the district as well as a launchpad of lifelong learning for the school year at Penn-Harris-Madison,” Technovation 2016 coordinator Duke Lines said.

Featured speakers at Technovation 2016 include Lisa Duerkson, Jeanie Mitchell, Rachel Fry, Amy Heavin, Terri Whitehead, Kelly Clifford, Sheila Toth, Beth Raker, Jarred Corwin, and Jill Kaufman.

More than 60 sessions will be offered in administration, technology personnel and teacher tracks.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with a wide-range of vendors including, but not limited to: Luma Audio & Visual, Automated Data Systems, Ruckus Wireless, Audio Enhancement, Brocade, CIBER Inc., Edmentum, Educational Furniture, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard, Indiana Connected Educators, Instructure and St. Joe Valley Metronet.

Penn High School principal Steve Hope announced the appointment of Rachel Fry as an assistant principal at Penn High School effective July 1, 2016.

Hope said that Fry had proven herself as a great leader in her roles as a teacher, instructional coach and academy leader.

“(Rachel’s) leadership has supported both greater student success and greater teacher success,” Hope said.

Fry, a graduate of Merrillville High School and Ball State University, will oversee Career and Technical Education Funding, K-12 STEM initiatives, teacher observations, resolution of Parent/Teacher/Student issues, supervision, professional development, Inside 56100, the start & end of the school year, and clubs.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work in a leadership capacity with some of the best teachers and students in the state!” Fry said. “I look forward to growing our STEM Academy by developing more partnerships, and providing more unique and relevant learning experiences for students in order to better prepare them for their future endeavors.”

Starting her teaching career at Merrillville High School in the field of special education, Fry also taught math at Crown Point High School before coming to Penn High School. She has a Master’s Degree in educational leadership from Ball State University. In addition to serving as the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Academy Leader, she also served as the Freshman Academy Leader at Penn.

“Rachel has distinguished herself as a master teacher in a very short time,” Hope said. “Her practice is exceptional and she has exceptional student achievement results as well. She has been a national presenter for incorporating literacy in math and overall student engagement.”

Penn High School students heard the sounds of exceptional success in the Music City for the TEAMS National Finals in Nashville, Tenn., on June 28-July 2.

TEAMS – Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science – started out as a competition for more than 10,000 high school students at 125 locations nationwide. The event, according to the sponsoring Technology Student Association, challenges students to work collaboratively and apply their math and science knowledge in practical, creative ways to solve real, everyday engineering challenges

Penn students qualified for the TEAMS National Finals in Nashville, and scored Top 10 places in four events.

 Megha Devaraj's team – Megha Devaraj, Kanika Arora, Olivia Mercurio, Jessica Lee, Edward Atkinson, Jack Bao,  David Kim and Matt Shan – placed third in the nation in Problem Solving, eighth in the nation in written paper, and sixth overall in Best in the Nation.

Presto George's team – Presto George, Hannah McGinness, Michelle Tapp, Nick Thurin, Morgan Ludwig,  Courtney Seigel, Nina Bakshi and Neal Patel – placed seventh in the nation in Problem Solving.

Kanika Arora also helped coach the Schmucker Middle School TEAMS competitors, who placed second in the nation overall. Click here for the story on Schmucker’s TEAMS success.

TEAMS is a program of the Technology Student Association, which offers STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) competitions for middle and high school students across the nation, reaching more than 225,000 students and 2,000 schools in 48 states.

Penn TEAMS coach Becky Tagliaferri expressed pride in the Top 10 showings nationally.

"We went up against some of the finest math, science, and engineering high schools in the country and showed them that Penn High School is among the best," Tagliaferri said. “After placing consistently for four years now, Penn High School is a player on the national stage of TEAMS engineering competition.”

Penn High School assistant principal and STEM Academy Leader Rachel Fry commended Tagliaferri and the Penn STEM Academy students for their showing on a national stage.

“After the latest accomplishments, I would like to add that the success of TEAMS is evidence that our students are not only learning rigorous STEM standards; but are able to apply this knowledge in collaborative problem-solving, and then strengthen presentation and communication skills through the culminating presentation,” Fry said. “Becky Tagliaferri has done a wonderful job working with these students and motivating 6-12 grade interest in TEAMS.”

Competitors in the TEAMS National Finals wrote a paper about optogenetics. Penn English teacher Jim Sauer assisted the effort by proofreading the paper that the Penn students submitted. Competitors also had to give a presentation on tools to make humans a multi-planetary species.

In the problem-solving section, students were only told to research the Hubble Telescope failure of 1990 beforehand. At the National Finals competition, students were then given math application problems to do, and they had to build a reflector that concentrated light onto a light meter and fit into a specified one-foot by three-inch diameter tube.

Each student gets a progress report at the end of the school year that lets parents know about their child’s academic standing and achievement. Penn High School gets one also!

Principal Steve Hope delivered Penn High School’s annual progress report to the school trustees and others in attendance at their June 27, 2016 board meeting.

He shared these academic achievements, athletics highlights, and other accolades. Click here to access the full report. 

ACADEMICS

Mr. Hope reported that Penn met and exceeded Indiana’s three “high achievement” targets, known as 90-25-90, by scoring 90-66-97.

The three data points in this metric represent End-of-Course Assessment (ECA) results, College and Career Readiness measures, and Graduation Rate. Of note is Penn’s continued improvement in these three areas.

• Looking at ECA Scores over time, the passing rate for English 10, for example, has risen from 83% five years ago to 90% in 2015.
• Gains in the area of College and Career Readiness are remarkable, up from 27% success in 2011 to 66% in 2015.
• Penn’s graduation rate has climbed steadily, rising from 79% in 2008 to just under 98% in 2015.

Another measure of success is the rate at which Academic Honors Diplomas are being earned. More than 50% of Penn graduates earned an Academic Honors diploma in 2016—nearly double the 27% rate in 2008—while fewer than 2% graduated with a general diploma.

Mr. Hope attributes Penn’s success in educating and graduating students in great part to the faculty’s dedication to the three R’s of Rigor, Relevance and Relationships, as well as the school’s academy structure, and the district’s investment in professional development for its instructional staff.

Penn is proud to once again be recognized as an elite 90-25-90 school!

ATHLETICS

The Penn Girls Basketball program won its first ever state championship this year. The squad is coached by Kristi Ulrich–who was recently named South Bend Tribune Coach of the Year.

In addition to the Girls Basketball team’s run to the state title, these three teams finished as semi-state champions: Boys Varsity Football, Girls Soccer, Girls Softball.

Also won this year by our IHSAA-sanctioned fall, spring and winter sports teams: 12 Northern Indiana Conference championships, 16 sectional championships, and 9 regional championships.

Penn is proud to be home to three Indiana Mental Attitude Award winners! These three student-athletes were recognized at the state level for their character and contributions: Camden Bohn (Football), Kamra Solomon (Girls Soccer), and Alyssa Griman (Softball).

ACCOLADES

While Penn High School students and staff have earned many accolades in the past year, Mr. Hope singled out these four in his report to the board:

• Penn was named an Indiana 4-Star School for the fourth consecutive year
• US News & World Report included Penn in its national “Best High Schools” list
• The Washington Post identified Penn as one of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools”
• Indiana Department of Education recognized Penn as a School of Promising Practices for its delivery of “Problem-based Learning”

Click here to access the full report