Penn-Harris-Madison School Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker announced that Penn Biology teacher John Gensic has won P-H-M Teacher of the Year.

Mr. Gensic learned of the honor in a surprise announcement Tuesday (April 26, 2016) when he was called to a “meeting” in Principal Steve Hope’s office. Instead, Mr. Gensic found a group of fellow Penn teachers, Penn-Harris-Madison District Administration and Penn staff waiting for him. Dr. Thacker broke the news telling Mr. Gensic, “What you don’t know and everyone else here does … is that you are P-H-M’s Teacher of the Year!” Click here to see the video of the surprise announcement.

Also on hand for the surprise announcement was the person who nominated him for the District honor, STEM Academy Leader Ms. Rachel Fry … “Mr. Gensic goes above and beyond to arrange authentic and eye-opening experiences for his students to interact with Biology outside the school walls.” One example of how Mr. Gensic utilizes project-based learning is his latest program, “Giving Trees.” Penn students will work with Horizon Elementary School students to plant 25-30 dwarf fruit trees in the elementary school’s garden. “Giving Trees” just received a P-H-M Education Foundation Grant during the Spring 2016 grant cycle, which will help fund Phase I of the project.

In early April, John was selected as a finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the nation's highest honor math, science and computer science teachers!  Later this summer, he will find out if he has been chosen as the science teacher winner representing Indiana. Each awardee receives a certificate signed by the President of the United States and a $10,000 award from NSF.

Mr. Gensic has been teaching for 11 years, coming to Penn High School in 2013. Mr. Gensic is a leader in his field presenting at the National Science Teachers Association on the topics of socio-scientific inquiry, biology modeling and free technology. He has also presented at TED, the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University as well as many other state and national conferences.

Last summer (2015), Mr. Gensic worked alongside EPA scientists on the "Lake Michigan Shipboard Science Workshop." John and other scientists evaluated the presence of microplastics and assessed the impact of aquatic invasive species—particularly zebra and quagga mussels—on Lake Michigan’s ecosystem.

“John's passion for science in and out of the classroom has made him an exemplary teacher providing the best education possible to our students,” said Penn Principal Steve Hope.

As P-H-M’s District Teacher of the year, Mr. Gensic will participate in the Indiana Teacher of the Year. That decision from the state DOE comes in fall of 2016. “I know John will be Indiana's next Teacher of the Year come this fall,” Dr. Thacker said confidently!

Mr. Gensic will receive his official award at the Penn-Harris-Madison Employee Recognition Dinner on May 11, along with P-H-M’s Classified Employee of the Year, 2016 retirees, and the 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40-year service award winners. 

Penn High School students must pick up new ID’s on Monday, April 25, and Tuesday, April 26, 2016.

Students can pick up their ID’s at the North End of the Cafeteria during their study hall or lunch.

Penn High School students Isaac Loutzenhizer, Kyle Burke, Elena Effertz, Alex Moore and Jason Jaworski qualified for the state championships of the Indiana Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program.

Loutzenhizer led Penn’s effort at the regional, scoring second highest out of 72 students.

The state championship will be at Purdue University's Wright Center, which is located in the Martell Forest.

Penn High School Agriculture instructor Mel Lenig said that this season’s Penn team is the first from the school to qualify for the state finals in five years.

“This year we turned some heads!” Lenig said.

At the state championships, Penn’s students have to master how to identify 54 species of Indiana mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

“In addition to being able to identify them by picture, skeleton, pelage, and scat, the team must be able to match them to their foods and habitat needs,” Lenig explained about the competition. “These are animals that are commonly encountered in the Eastern Deciduous Forests, Wetlands, and Urban habitats of the United States east of the Mississippi River.”

According to Lenig, state qualifiers will face the challenge of walking the assigned forest area and assessing its characteristics. Then, the teams will have to select the best wildlife management practices to use to improve the site for the target animal species. The team will have to develop a two-page management plan for eight species of wildlife on a 150-acre tract of land.

Lenig’s Penn team won the state championship 10 years ago.

In two recent rankings released Spring 2016—the Washington Post’s “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” and U.S. News & World Report’s “Best High Schools”—Penn High School ranks high for college and career readiness.

In Washington Post’s “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” ranking, Penn came in 16^th for the state of Indiana and in the top 9% for the nation . The Washington Post ranking is determined by taking the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June. They call the formula the “Challenge Index.” Public schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.00, meaning they had as many tests in 2015 as they had graduates, were put on the national list. On the 2016 list, just more than 10% of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools managed to reach that standard and earn placement on the Washington Post ranking. Penn High School earned a 1.937 “Challenge Index.” Penn’s offering of 21 Advanced Placement classes and 97% graduation rate are just some of the reasons for Penn’s ranking.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Penn 21^st in the state for college and career readiness. With a 46% student participation rate in Advanced Placement classes contributed to giving Penn a 33.2 College Readiness Index. Penn’s 22-1 student, teacher ratio along with the school’s high graduation rate earned Penn a “Silver” award on U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 national ranking.

In order to serve the Penn High School community better, an update to our automated phone system was installed in April 2016.

Parents or guardians of a Penn student should call this new number: 574-258-9501.

When calling, please provide the student's full name (spell the last name), the student's ID number, the reason for absence or dismissal and, in case of the need to call back, a phone number.

Please listen carefully to the three different Attendance prompts. They are as follow:

• To report an early dismissal for TODAY, press 1. This would include, for example, an appointment, family emergency, etc., that will take place during the current school day. Include a time for the early dismissal, and the reason.
• To report a dismissal/absence for a future date, press 2. This would include an appointment, college visit, family event, etc., that would be taking place on a future school day. Please include a date, time and reason for the absence/early dismissal.
• To report an illness OR a late arrival, press 3. Please provide a short comment regarding the illness, i.e. the flu, cold, etc. In the case of a long-term illness, please provide details that may be forwarded to a counselor and/or nurse. For students arriving late, please provide a reason and approximate time of arrival if available.

Please contact the Attendance secretary, Karen Rallo at krallo.phm.k12.in.us with any concerns about the reporting attendance.

We thank you for your patience as we continue to strive towards a more efficient Attendance Office!

Five teams from Penn High School qualified for the nationals in the Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science competition. The nationals are scheduled for June 28-July 1 in Nashville, Tenn.

Sponsored by Penn High School Math instructor Becky Tagliaferri, Penn students excelled in the regional TEAMS competition. Each team consists of eight students working together to solve an engineering problem. The regional competition has two parts, the awards were for part one, and part two is a written/design portion.

“I am so proud of these students and their desire to learn about engineering,” Tagliaferri said of Penn’s national qualifiers. “This really says a lot about our math/science program here at Penn.”

Penn’s TEAMS state champs in the 11/12 division – Megha Devaraj (team captain), Jack Bao, David Kim, Matt Shan, Edward Atkinson, Olivia Mercurio, Kanika Arora and Yejee Oh lead the Kingsmen contingent in the national competition.

Other Penn qualifiers for the nationals include:

Team E (fourth in the state): Jewon Oh (team captain), Peter Jung, Presto George, Riley Vreeke, Tim Porsche, Nick Thurin, Hannah McGinness, Michelle Tapp.

Team B (fifth in the state): Josh Zhao (team captain), Rachel Casetti, Nick Casetti, Baker Nasser, Chris Yun, Muqsit Buchh, Audrey Murray, Eric Pfrender.

Team C (12^th in the state): Julia Kwak (team captain), Peter Rutkowski, Vishal Patel, Andrew Bernard, Annaliza Canda, Mason Lee, Alex Dobbins, Monesh Devireddy.

Team A (fifth in the state): Tina Liu (team captain), Chelsea Chen, Rebecca Yuan, Keegan Palonis, Leah Ingle, Celine Wang, Amy Bernard, Priya Chaudhary.

By ARIELLE KIRSCH

Penn High School student reporter

On April 21 and 22 at 6:30 p.m., Penn High School students will perform this year’s children’s play, “Gooney Bird Greene”.  Taking place in the Studio Theater, the show tells the story of a quirky yet extraordinary girl who uses her creativity for good as she becomes a new student at her school.

Caroline Carrier, the Penn sophomore who has the role of Gooney Bird Greene, speaks very highly of the show and the experiences it has brought to her and the other actors.

“The most exciting part of playing the lead is getting to be so involved in all of the different scenes,” Carrier said. “It's a lot of fun getting to be a big part of something so unique and enjoyable.”

Directed by Penn High School teacher David Dutton, the play features fun scenes and crazy stories.  It is an interactive show directed towards audiences with children, and will be exceptionally entertaining for people of all ages.

Carrier has been involved in theatre productions since the age of 9, and she has been cast in numerous shows throughout her short high school career.

“Gooney Bird Greene has been a blast,” Carrier said. “It's a great show with a great cast, and we've made it the best it can be since day one.”

Tickets can be purchased for $5 at www.ticketracker.com or at the door.

Parents, show your support for Penn High’s leadership AND help raise money for your child's school.

At the P-H-M Education Foundation’s 20^th Anniversary Gala on April 23, P-H-M principals will perform Vaudeville-style acts, competing against other P-H-M school teams. 

All the acts will be unique and definitely entertaining, but only one team—the one with the most votes—will win the PHaMmy award!

Here’s how you can help raise money for your school:

• Votes cost $10 each and you can cast multiple votes between now and the evening of the Gala.
• 50% of what each team raises will go directly back to that team’s schools!
• The first 100 votes for each team will be matched dollar for dollar by Gary Fox of Crowe Horwath.   (Mr. Fox is P-H-M Board of School Trustees President and an Education Foundation Board Member.)

   

Does Principal Steve Hope and his talented team deserve your vote?

You bet they do! Just watch the video.

►START VOTING TODAY & give TEAM ONE a head start! Follow these easy steps:

1. Click "Browse, Bid and Buy – View Items"
2. ​Click "Register” to create a Gesture account 
3. Vote for TEAM ONE (Auction Item #101)

Check here daily to see how the votes are coming in, and which team’s in the lead!

►WATCH LIVE STREAM OF THE GALA PERFORMANCES (Sat., April 23, 7:30 p.m.) on the Penn News Network—then vote again! Votes will be tallied and a winner announced at the end of the evening.

►PARTICIPATE IN THE SILENT AUCTION at the same “Browse, Bid and Buy” page where you cast your votes. Check out the many attractive items being offered, then stay on top of the bidding to get what you want and benefit the Foundation.  

The P-H-M Education Foundation has many reasons to celebrate its 20 years of service to the P-H-M community.  Since 1996, the Foundation has distributed more than $520,000 to our schools and classrooms via innovative teaching grants. The Foundation also uses proceeds to underwrite district activities with widespread impact such as “Running is Elementary” and the “Summer Visual Arts Academy.”  Its mission: To support excellence in education.

A vote for TEAM ONE is a vote for excellence in education!

​           

The Black Knights placed 10th overall and received the “Regional Engineering Inspiration Award” at the Indiana State Championships, held in Kokomo on April 14-16, 2016.

Placing in the top ten secures their place at the FIRST World Championship competition (April 27-30, St. Louis), and winning the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award resulted in a $5,000 grant from NASA to cover that competition’s entry fee! 

The Regional Engineering Inspiration award was given in recognition of “outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community.” 

The nearly 40-member student team has won awards at the two other competitions they’ve participated in this season. They won the “Judges’ Award” at the Tippecanoe District Tournament (West Lafayette, Ind.) March 11-13.  They also received the “District Engineering Inspiration Award” at the Perry Meridian District Tournament (Indianapolis) March 24-26.

Members of the 2015-2016 team include: Conrad Adams, Edward Atkinson, Sam Battalio, Jacob Bobson, Soren Campbell, Kayla Cole, Chris Dell, Adam Dewey, Alec Evans, Austin Finnessy, Aaron Fish, Kenny Ham, Cole Harding, Lizzie Heisler, Cason Jones, Chase Kidder, Bayley Lackie, Jimmy Leibengood, Alexis Marks, Jenni Muñoz, Aileen Norton, Tyler Nowak, Aidan Palonis, Nathan Petrie, Connor Russell, Frank Salek, Caitlin Stabelfeldt, Tyler Styles, Conner Swift, Andrew Umbaugh, Zach Varmette, Blake Witchie, Evan Witous, David Wojciechowski, Brandon Wood, and Brandon Ziegert. 

 The team is very appreciative of their Penn Faculty Coordinators Jim Langfeldt and Josiah Parker, as well as many adult mentors who graciously volunteer their time and talent:  Holly Austin, Joe Bishop, Allie Bishop, Grant Carlile, Andy Edelbrock, Tom Evans, Liz Kindelan, Tom Leathers, Jacob Pelletier, Troy Stablefeldt, Bob Stevenson, Robin Varmette, Andrew Whiteman, Bill Whiteman and Don Zmudzinski.

Through participation in FIRST Robotics Competition, the Penn robotics students experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology and innovation. They build life capabilities such as self-confidence, communication and leadership, while also qualifying for over $25 million in college scholarships! 

And Team 135 gives back to the community through various problem-based learning projects. In May 2015, several team members collaborated with other Penn students to build a prosthetic arm using a 3-D printer for Madison Elementary School third grader Grace Hildreth. “The Hand of Grace” project received widespread recognition and media coverage locally, across the state, and even nationally. 

Also a part of Team 135’s regular activities are visits to P-H-M’s elementary and middle schools to inspire younger students and invoke interest in STEM classes and activities and eventual careers.

Team 135 is thankful for its community sponsors who have provided ongoing support, along with grants from the Penn-Harris-Madison Education Foundation. It takes a total of $70,000 to fund the championship team’s endeavors for the competition season, and the students have been busy raising money since last August. 

Funding is still needed to cover the costs not only for the expensive supplies it takes to build the robots (such as aluminum, batteries, and control system components), as well as travel expenses for the entire team.

Please check out the team’s website to see other accomplishments, view videos of the team in action, or find the donation link:  http://www.team135.org/