CANVAS is an online communication platform that connects students, parents and teachers. CANVAS has boosted the success of P-H-M’s Chromebook program in middle and high school, and most of our users have given it a “thumbs up” this year.

Starting June 6, 2016, P-H-M’s CANVAS users will see a new and improved “dashboard” when they log on. In addition to the new look, the user will have new options for organizing and viewing CANVAS content. We think the changes being made to the user interface will merit two thumbs up!  

Parents and students, watch the video below for an overview of the changes. 

The URL (web address ) to CANVAS is not changing. You will find it at the same location, or by using the same link or shortcut, as you have used in the past. 

• Click here to go to the CANVAS login page now, or copy/paste this address into your browser bar: https://phm.instructure.com/ to go there. 

Your login information will not change. Your CANVAS login is the same as your HAC (Home Access Center) login.

• Contact the school office or email the HAC helpdesk HAC@phm.k12.in.us if you need help setting up your account. 

Visit the Canvas Help Page for additional resources and information.

Penn High School's 4-H//Future Farmers of America (FFA) team earned the 2016 Indiana State Championship title in Wildlife Habitat Management at Purdue University on Saturday, May 14. Individually Kyle Burke placed 2nd, Isaac Loutzenhiser came in 4^th and Elena Effertz placed 6th. Isaac distinguished himself as having the only perfect identification score in the state contest, which was made up of 48 students from across Indiana.  The team has received an invitation to compete in the National Wildlife Habitat Education Program Career Development Contest to be held at the Canaan Valley State Park in West Virginia on July 24-27th.  

Penn Biology teacher Mr. John Gensic teamed up with Horizon Elementary’s Mrs. Karin Logan to plan a fun-filled, hands-on, project-based learning, literal “field trip.”

Mr. Gensic brought nearly 100 students from his Early College Academy biology class to help Mrs. Logan’s 2^nd grade class plant dwarf fruit trees this morning (Thursday, May 12) in the field behind Horizon Elementary.

The “Giving Trees” project was Mr. Gensic’s idea, for which he applied for and received funding from the P-H-M Education Foundation grant. Gensic, who was recently named P-H-M’s 2016 Teacher of the Year, came up with the idea for students will participate in real world tasks from planting trees to harvesting fruit that will result in an improved local environment that provides educational and edible plants for our community. In Phase One of the project, which the PHMEF grant supports, 25-30 dwarf trees will be planted by elementary and Penn Early College biology students at Horizon Elementary. Initial trees will be planted Spring 2016, with the completion of the planting will be Spring 2017. Today’s activity was the first step in the project.

In Phases 2, 3 and four of the “Giving Trees” project, involve harvesting the fruits from the orchard to serve in P-H-M’s schools. It is also Mr. Gensic’s goal that his Penn students would fulfill orders from the community. The high school students will be putting into action the Indiana Biology Standards 3 (interdependence) and 4 (matter cycles and energy transfer). The elementary students will also be learning and putting into practice Indiana Science and Language Arts Standards.

It is Mr. Gensic’s hope is that this project will provide students, both high school and elementary, the opportunity to identify themselves as “world changers,” leading the charge to positively impact their communities’ health and environment.

Today’s activity also got the attention of the local South Bend media, with Mr. Gensic, Mrs. Logan as well as students.

Penn High School student Jack Bao said that it was just like taking another math test.

Only this test was in a room of about 250 other high school students, and it was at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

In their first year of competing in the prestigious MathCon national competition, Penn students made a masterful impact.

Bao emerged from the grinding 40 problems in 40 minutes national finals competition as the 12^th-grade national champion.

David Kim won the national championship at the 11^th-grade level.

“These two students are national champions because of their level of commitment to the extra-curricular math programs at Penn High School,” Penn High School math instructor Brad Grounds said of Bao and Kim.

Tina Lu was a ninth-grade Gold medal winner, Mason Lee was an 11^th-grade Bronze medal winner, and Corey Wang was a ninth-grade Bronze medal winner.

“Penn High school continues to produce successful students because of its promotion of these extra-curricular activities,” Grounds said.

MathCon is in its eighth year. The national event started out as an online middle school competition, and added high school competition in 2012.

This year, more than 45,000 students across the national competed in the initial online competition. The top 600 students were invited to the national finals in Chicago.

“It was really, really fun,” Bao said of the experience. “There were a ton of people, and we all love Math. Winning the national championship was something I hadn’t experienced before. It was a lot of fun.”

Bao said that the Math curriculum at Penn gave him an edge in winning the national championship.

“The MathCon 12^th-grade level has calculus on the test,” Bao said. “That was something I hadn’t seen before in other competitions. Since at Penn, I took calculus A, B and C, I was able to answer those questions.”

Penn High School STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Academy Leader Rachel Fry commended Grounds and all of the participating students from Penn.

“As with many Penn experiences, our students' participation in the national MathCon was initiated by a student,” Fry said. “Mr. Brad Grounds was instrumental in learning about the event, and organized the group of students that participated.  It was incredible to see our STEM students take part in something for the first time, and for so many to walk away with such high honors.  This is evidence that the academic rigor being implemented to challenge our students is first-rate!”

No better day than National Teacher Appreciation Day to recognize a great teacher like Kristi Kaniewski-Ulrich! When Ulrich was called to a Schmucker classroom on Tuesday, May 3, she was not aware that friends, family and colleagues were waiting there to surprise her. They knew that she was about to be named HERO OF THE MONTH by the Michiana chapter of the national organization, Homes for Heroes. 

Ulrich had been selected for the honor in recognition of her commitment to the community and her service as a teacher and coach.  The plaque presented to her reads: Hero of the Month 2016: To Kristi Kaniewski Ulrich, For your dedication and commitment to your students, players, and community. Your work has been noticed and is very much appreciated. Thank you for being a hero! 

Ulrich teaches health and physical education at Schmucker Middle School. She is also coach of the state championship girls varsity basketball team at Penn High School. Clearly she is a busy woman, but she does it all with great enthusiasm. 

“I just have a passion for it (teaching at middle school) and then being able to go over to the high school in the afternoon and being able to teach and coach basketball—which I love a tremendous amount as well,” says Ulrich. “This is where I definitely want to be, this is something that I love to do each and every single day.”

WNDU-TV was also on hand to record the presentation. Watch that video here.

Homes for Heroes is a national organization that seeks to support public servants in the home buying and selling process, through professional support and discounted services. Locally, they strive to build connections and promote recognition in the community for public servants and military personnel. 

From the Homes for Heroes website: Our mission is to provide extraordinary savings to local heroes who provide extraordinary services to our community everyday. Heroes include military, police, fire, first responders, nurses, doctors, teachers and clergy.

Here are links to the Homes for Heroes Facebook page and website:

• https://www.facebook.com/MichianaHomesForHeroes/?fref=ts

• https://www.homesforheroes.com/

By Ari Kirsch

Penn High School student reporter

On Thursday, May 5, and Friday, May 6, members of the Penn High School community will have the opportunity to attend the spring choir concert for an enjoyable evening of choral music.

The concert is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in Penn’s Center for Performing Arts.

All seven of the Penn High School choirs will be performing in the Spring event.

Penn choir students, under direction of Andrew Nemeth and Brent Holaway, as well as piano accompanist Andrew Napolitan, have prepared tremendously for the event, and are excited and ready to produce an evening of delightfully mesmerizing music.

To purchase tickets for Spring 2016 Performances, click here.

Penn High School’s Full Orchestra, Symphonic Band and Symphonic Winds each earned Gold Ratings with Distinction in the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) Qualifier event on April 29-30.

The Penn Orchestra and Symphonic Winds qualified for the State Finals. Eight Orchestras and 16 bands from around the state qualify for this event annually. The Orchestra performs at Pike High School in Indianapolis at 12:25 p.m. in State Finals competition on Saturday, May 7. The band performs at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis at 6:10 p.m. on May 7.

“We are very pleased to have the Symphonic Band, Full Orchestra and Symphonic Winds each earn a Gold Rating with Distinction at the ISSMA Qualifying event last weekend,” Penn Fine Arts Academy leader Glenn Northern said. “The Orchestra, under the direction of Lavon Oke and Liz Cravens, had a wonderful performance, and earned its highest scores ever at this event.”

Penn’s Symphonic Band, under the direction of Northern and Chris Paulson, gave an outstanding performance of some very difficult band literature, according to Northern. The Symphonic Winds, also under the direction of Northern and Paulson, likewise turned in a memorable performance.

“All of our students and staff should be very proud of their hard work and their achievement,” Northern said of the Gold Ratings with Distinction performances.

The Indiana primary election takes place Tuesday, May 3, and that means the road to the White House is coming through the Michiana area!

A group of passionate Penn journalism students are on the Campaign Trail providing coverage on Penn News Network (PNN) to the rest of the P-H-M community. Since last Tuesday, April 26, three of the five Presidential Candidates have been made stops in our area, with Ted Cruz coming twice.

The students first covered Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton’s visit to Mishawaka’s AM General Plant on April 26 (click here to see the Clinton coverage). Republican hopeful Ted Cruz held a rally the following Thursday, April 28, at the Century Center in downtown South Bend (click here to see the Cruz coverage). Democrat Bernie Sanders also held a rally at the Century Center on Sunday, May 1 … and the students were there covering it with the rest of the local media (click here to see the Sanders coverage).

This morning (Monday, May 2) Cruz came back to Michiana visiting Bravo Cave in Osceola, not far from Penn; however, with this event being during the school day, the students did not cover this event. But they will be back downtown this evening (Monday, May 2) when Republican Donald Trump rolls into town for his rally at the Century Center (click here to see the Trump coverage).

The Penn student reporters have even made the mainstream news themselves being profiled by WSBT-TV and ABC 57.

PNN has a daily report that is broadcast to Penn’s student body covering a variety of topics from school news to results of athletic games to weather to local and national issues. These reports along with feature stories are available on PNN’s website.