By KENNEDY PARKER

Students in Penn High School’s DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) Chapter traveled to Concord Mall in Elkhart on Thursday, Jan. 14, to showcase their professionalism and business abilities. High school students from across District 2 competed in 26 different role-play events, including everything from “Accounting Applications”, “Restaurant & Food Service Management,” to  “Apparel and Accessories Marketing.”

Of the students representing Penn at the event, 34 students qualified for state. In addition, 56 DECA Students from Penn are moving on in competition and will attend the Indiana State Career Development Conference to compete with students from around the state in Indianapolis Feb. 28-March 1, accpording to Penn High School’s DECA sponsor, Stephanie McElwrath.

Penn senior Cassidy Jurkaites, 3-year DECA member, said, “DECA is a business club in which students take on the role of business professionals and give a solution or pitch to a scenario to judges who are acting as the CEO or heads of companies, and then they are ranked against students who had their same scenario.”

Jurkaites is currently the president of not only Penn’s chapter, but also the President of District 2. As President, she is responsible for keeping track of each member’s participation points, answering questions, and helping fellow DECA members pick an event that best represents their skills, as well as helping coordinate events across the district and working with DECA students from other schools.

Kendra Laidig, Penn sophomore and 2-year DECA member, is an officer on this year’s  DECA board. She joined the club as a freshman, knowing very little information about it.

“… All of the members were very welcoming and Mrs. McElwrath told me everything I needed to know to succeed,” Laidig said.

Laidig joined because she had heard it was “… very rewarding and looked impressive on college applications.”

She has since discovered that it is much more than that!

In the past, Jurkaites competed on the Travel and Tourism Team. In her second year, she chose Professional Selling and advanced to internationals with that event. This year, she is competing in the Financial Consulting Professional Selling event. Her job in this role play event is to sit down with judges, acting as a set of new parents looking into different college saving plans for their child. Her goal is to “educate them on the benefits and drawbacks of different loans and ultimately get them to say yes to the plan I’m advising on.”

    Laidig will compete in the Advertising Campaign event, the same event she competed in last year.

“Basically, my job was to choose an existing product, service, or business, and come up with a year-long campaign to advertise it,” she said. “In the paper, I cover the target markets for the business, the calendar for advertisements and promotions, and the budget.” The paper is then submitted to the judge(s), and the student gives a 10-minute presentation about their paper to that judge at the state conference.

    Laidig said she has gained confidence, public speaking skills, responsibility, and leadership skills through her DECA experience. Her favorite memory is going to Orlando, Florida, last year for internationals.

Jurkaites said, “I have gained the ability to be confident in any situation I’m given. You meet and talk with a lot of different people over the course of your DECA years and DECA has given me the skills to be able to talk to these people in a professional and intellectual way.” Her best DECA memory was making it on stage at 2015 internationals for the top ten presentation.

    Any student interested in joining DECA next year or with any questions can email Stephanie McElwrath at smcelwrath@phm.k12.in.us

    For a complete list of students who qualified for state in a role play event, click here!

Students representing Penn High School’s Theatre Department excelled at the Indiana State Thespian Conference competition in Vincennes. The students competed under the direction of Penn Theatre Instructor Courtney Qualls.

DeCarla Thompson earned a superior ranking and a chance to compete at the national conference for her Solo Musical.

“DeCarla's confidence and soulful voice led her to a superior ranking in her solo, "I Know Where I've Been," from “Hairspray,” Qualls said. “DeCarla is a techie who is in her third year in the tech class at Penn and decided this was the year she wanted to break into the other side of theatre.

“(DeCarla) entered the beginning class this year having no acting experience but she is a quick study. She performed for the first time at the talent show, where she won and for only the second time here at state. DeCarla is a theatre powerhouse with a wide knowledge of tech and a growing knowledge of acting and performing.” 

Hannah Keeler earned an excellence rating in Solo Musical, and Matt Magaldi earned an excellence rating in Monologue.

“Hannah is a strong comedic performer,” Qualls said. “Performing "I Hate Men," from “Kiss Me Kate,” Hannah used her comedic abilities and outgoing fun personality to bring to life a snarky, strong female character frustrated with the male gender. 

“Matt's strongest attribute is his adaptability and coachability” Qualls said. “Just an hour before his performance, he realized he had read a rule wrong and needed to make adjustments. He took a six-minute performance and trimmed it down to two minutes and 57 seconds (three seconds under the time limit), rehearsed and put on a performance that only missed being classified as superior by one point.”

Ashley Talcott placed third out of 94 students in props placement out.

“While focusing most of her time at Penn in lighting, Ashley is a diligent and hard worker and competed in multiple categories in the (competition). Steady and cool, she packed up one props table and set up a second all in one minute and six seconds. Less than one second separated second and third place.” 

Billie Bennett, who will be auditioning at Julliard next month, was recognized as a distinguished senior. Bennett also competed in the monologue event, where she nearly earned a superior ranking.

“Billie epitomizes a theatre professional,” Qualls said. “Not only does she sing, dance and act, she is a leader, a motivator, and an educator. Billie has been involved with most everything involving theatre in her four years at Penn High School, including plays, musicals, playwriting, directing, theatre club activities, fundraising opportunities and too many more to list out.

“She is a diligent student taking a full schedule of advanced placement and AP classes while maintaining high grades. Her incredible talent is an added bonus to the wonderful person she is inside and out.”

 The following students also competed in different events throughout the weekend: 

Christian Bentley competed in Scenic Design and the Tech Olympics as part of our school team. 

Hannah Keeler, DeCarla Thompson, and Olivia Taylor rounded out the four person team from Penn for Tech Olympics.

Penn High School student Blake Hesch qualified for the Debate nationals, and Penn’s Debate team placed second in district competition.

Hesch earned second place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate competition, and is qualified for the nationals in June in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Penn students placing in the top five in their events were:

Amelia Atkinson (third in Lincoln-Douglas)

Megha Devaraj and Colin Lucero-Dixon (fifth in Policy)

Nicholas Casseti and Renee Yaseen (fourth in Policy)

Zoe Gatzimos and William Riley (third in Policy)

Shad Jeffery and Benjamin Whittington (fourth in Public Forum)

Michael O'Rear and Faihaan Arif (placed seventh in Public Forum).

“This was the strongest showing by a Penn Debate Team at The District Tournament in the past few years,” Penn Debate coach Dave Dutton said. “Their success was the result of strong preparation and desire. I am very proud of each and every one of them.

“I am particularly pleased for Blake Hesch,” Dutton said. “Blake is a four-year veteran of the team and has been unselfish in the sharing of his time and knowledge with his team mates.”

Hesch’s topic at Districts was: "Resolved: In the United States, private ownership of handguns ought to be banned."

Penn Debate assistant coach Dawn Troyer said that Hesch excelled at the Lincoln-Douglas Debate format, which is a one-on-one debate structured on the famed Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas senatorial debates.

“For the four years that Blake has been involved with Penn Debate, he has not only been a hard worker, but he has also been an integral part of the team,” Troyer said. “As a sophomore and junior, he took on the responsibility of training and mentoring the incoming Lincoln-Douglas debaters; as a result, he is respected and appreciated by the entire team. His gregarious, friendly nature, though, is what strikes me the most.  In addition, Blake is a great thinker. He is able to see both sides of a topic, and regardless of his own personal beliefs, convincingly present either side with solid proof and logic.”

Next up for Penn Debate is state competition on Jan. 29-30 in Indianapolis. 

Auditions for Penn High School’s Battle of the Bands are on Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 4 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Battle of the Bands is March 24.

Audition forms can be picked up in guidance or in the main office.

Band members can be from another school or be graduated, but at least one-third of the band members must currently attend Penn.

Any musical group can audition, no matter the genre.

Battle of the Bands spokesperson Olivia Taylor said that Battle of the Bands is a special event that Penn offers.

“I love the fact that the people who come to see the bands form a community of music lovers and all have a good time seeing great bands together,” Taylor said. “As far as popularity goes, there are usually about five bands and somewhere between 100 and 150 guests.

“Last year the Black Marias won the event, which was an alternative rock cover band that included Roger Johnson on guitar and vocals, Ryan Taylor on lead guitar, Mark Richards on bass, Anna Vukmirovich on keyboard, and Lucas Liepert on drums.”

The winners receive a medal for their victory. There is typically a guest band that plays while people text in their votes for which band they want to win after the last competing band plays.

Before the classical sounds of Berlioz’ “The Hungarian Marc h” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet Suite” flowed across the Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne on Saturday, Jan. 16, Penn High School students Chelsea Chen (violin), Jewon Oh (violin) and Mitchell Spangler (English horn) spent 20 hours in a two-day span preparing to turn Indiana’s All-State Orchestra into a cohesive symphonic unit.

Chen, a freshman, and seniors Oh and Spangler were performed with top orchestra students from around the state as part of the annual Indiana Music Educator's Association 2016 Professional Development Conference. The students earned elite All-State selection through an audition process that involved hundreds of students across Indiana.

“Chelsea is a very advanced freshman,” Penn orchestra instructor Lavon Oke said. “I don't think we have ever had a freshman make the All-State Orchestra before. She is an expressive player and also plays piano very well.

“Mitchell is a very fine oboe player who also plays English Horn,” Oke said. “He is a very fine student and a swim team member as well.

“Jewon is in his second year in the All-State orchestra,” Oke said. “He is working on very difficult literature and last year was a soloist with the Elkhart Symphony as their concerto competition winner.”

Participating in the All-State Orchestra was a whirlwind experience for Spangler, but a worthwhile experience.

“It was really exciting to work with a lot of high-caliber musicians,” Spangler said. “There was definitely a lot of rehearsing. We probably rehearsed about 20 hours the whole weekend. It was really fun to get to meet a lot of talented people who are serious about music.

“We had to prepare the music beforehand, so we weren’t just learning it when we got there. A lot of the rehearsing was to get us used to playing together. The rehearsal was the glue that put together the performance.”

Musicians selected for the All-State Orchestra are among the state’s elite high school musicians, and they deal with a very challenging literature that is at a professional level.

“It's a fantastic and unforgettable experience,” Oke said of All-State Orchestra. “The students not only play great music to a very high level with other gifted and hard-working musicians, but they also have a great deal of fun and network with other students they might even be in music school with in a very short time. 

“They also meet musicians (who coach sectionals and break out rehearsals) from professional orchestras and teachers from Indiana colleges and universities,” Oke continued. “It's an all-around amazing time of growth and celebration.”

Spangler enjoyed a Skype opportunity with the composer of one of the pieces that the All-State Orchestra performed, Stephen Andrew Taylor, who composed, “In the Balance”.

“I really appreciated the opportunity to be able to talk to (Taylor),” Spangler said. “I learned a lot about how a composer is able to create a piece like that, especially the inspiration and the planning process.”

Spangler said that he appreciated the learning opportunity through Penn’s Fine Arts Academy.

“For me, music is a way to express myself,” Spangler said. “I can express myself through music that I can’t in words. The Fine Arts also teaches you to express yourself creatively, and how to communicate with others. Being in an orchestra, it’s not an individual thing. You have to play with other people around you. You have to watch the conductor. It teaches you so many valuable skills.”

Oke said that the select of three students for the All-State Orchestra demonstrates Penn’s solid commitment to allowing students opportunities to grow and achieve.

“It's by no means all perfect, but we have an environment where growth is encouraged and nourished,” Oke said. “We see successes at individual levels, and at many program levels as well – the two go together.”

Brian Loring and five classmates studied a floor plan of Penn High School’s Instructional Materials Center spread out on the table before them.

Loring placed images of drawn-to-scale furniture as he and his classmates worked on designing a collaborative learning space. Then, Loring paused and consulted with Kiel Thode, a professional interior designer with Business Furnishings, and revised his original plan.

Penn High School teacher Josiah Parker created a Design Charrette opportunity centered around the IMC for his Architectural Design, and Civil Engineering, and Architecture – Project Lead the Way classes.

“A Design Charrette is a brainstorming meeting with all stakeholders of a project together to speed up the design process and get many things worked out together,” according to Parker. “This is for the students and is not part of the actual design or the timeline of these spaces, although there is great potential for some of these designs to be used when/if the time comes.”

Parker stated that Penn High School is in the process of designing and studying the possibility of incorporating collaborative spaces into the school, and he has turned that into relevant learning opportunities for his students.

Penn High School principal Steve Hope visited with the students during the learning event, and shared perspective regarding Penn’s needs.

“It was great to see our architecture students working on interior spaces,” Hope said. “The true test of a building's design is how well the occupants work and live in that environment.

“Post-modern architects and designers have moved well beyond creating aesthetically pleasing or even novel designs to creating spaces that support working and living communities,” Hope said. “This is taking Louis Sullivan's thesis of form follows function to the ultimate conclusion where traffic patterns, energy use, sustainability and transformable space. Our students did a great deal of research on how students want to use and interact in the space and incorporated that research into their plans.” 

Loring, a sophomore at Penn, appreciated the real-world learning opportunity that Parker’s project enabled.

“I was able to get better input into what we were working on, by being able to talk to professional designers,” Loring said. “It’s a lot better than when we work on something by ourselves.

“I really like this kind of learning,” Loring continued. “It’s interactive. It’s engaging. I think all of the students have a better learning experience, working together on a project, and working with people from the real-world.”

Jake McQueen, a junior at Penn, plans to pursue a career in architecture and interior design, so the real-world connection was valuable.

“We gain a lot of architectural design experience, as well as interior design experience working with all of the different components of a project like this,” McQueen said. “The opportunity to work with professional interior designers is really valuable. They show us how things work in the real work.I think it’s really important that Penn offers classes and projects like this. It’s important for me, because I want to go into this field.”

Parker set up the Design Charrette for students to collaborate with professional interior designers through Mark Macheca of Business Furnishings.

Thode, the lead designer for the Penn project, and Kelly Olson, Marissa Odom and Adrienne Michaels were at Penn recently to work with students.

“I appreciate the time and effort the team from Business Furnishings put in to give our students this amazing real-world experience,” Parker said. “Not only did they get to work with designers who practice this every day, but they were able to work on a real project that will impact them at Penn. It was a great experience for everyone involved.”

Penn High School Model United Nations students earned numerous awards at the Model United Nations competition at the University of Michigan on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2016. Penn’s Model U.N. team is coached by Chris Cantoni.

PENN AWARD WINNERS

Verbal Accommodations:

1. Meillyn McVeigh: Delegate from Qatar in the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Affairs Committee (SOCHUM) 

2. Josh Leady: Delegate from Cuba in the United Nations Development Program Committee (UNDP)

3. Soren Campbell: Delegate from Pakistan in the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC)

Honorable Mentions

1. Ameila Atkinson: Delegate from Pakistan in the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC)

2. Renee Yaseen: Delegate from Qatar in the United Nations Development Program Committee (UNDP)

Penn students can enjoy an evening of fun with friends and music at Snowball 16 on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. The theme is Hollywood Nights.

Click on the link Snowball 16 to purchase tickets, reserve a ride on a horse-drawn opera carriage, or order flowers.

Snowball 16 includes desserts and a coffee station.

Snowball 2016 will be held at Penn High School, from 8 p.m to midnight, on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016.

• Students must enter through Door D. Tickets for the event must be purchased in advance. 

• Students can bring guests, but the guests must be at least of high school age and under 21. 

• Everyone must have a current photo ID to get in the door.

• This annual fundraiser is brought to you by the Penn High School Parent Teacher Organization.

Penn High School’s DECA students turned in an exceptional showing at the 2016 Indiana District 2 Competition on Thursday at Concord Mall in Elkhart.

Penn, coached by Stephanie McElwrath, placed first in its District for overall points and will be advancing the following students to state competition at the end of February.

At total of 51 Penn DECA students attended the Indiana District 2 Competition on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, at Concord Mall in Elkhart.

“These students did a great job under much of their own peer leadership,” McElwrath said. “After taking a comprehensive exam, they worked hard to learn about specific business categories and present to professionals in our community. Much positive feedback was given to me by the professionals about how articulate, confident and professionally-dressed the students were at competition.”

The Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees voted to approve the sponsorship agreement between the P-H-M Education Foundation and Zolman's Tire & Auto Care at the Monday, January 11, 2016 Board meeting.

Per the agreement, Zolman’s Tire will donate $25,000 to the P-H-M Education Foundation endowment for a 12-year naming rights period, thereby affording Zolman’s the opportunity to name the north concession stand at Penn High School’s TCU Freed Field. Zolman's Tire & Auto Care will also pay the signage costs to have the area named “The Zolman Tire Concession Stand.”

The mission of the Education Foundation is to develop alternative sources of income to support education initiatives in the School Corporation by strengthening partnerships between the community and the District. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

Per PHMEF’s naming rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation will go into the Foundation’s endowment, which will in turn provide alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent will directly fund professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District. With the recent release of the 2015 ISTEP+ scores, P-H-M believes the key to providing an excellent education is excellent teachers.

“Our goal is to provide our students with an outstanding education to prepare them for college and career success,” said P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Thacker. “We do this by making sure our students are receiving the best education possible from the best educators. P-H-M’s ‘Triangle of Success’ is built upon students, teachers and parents. Community partners are vital to sustaining P-H-M excellence in education.”

Monday’s announcement of Zolman’s commitment and support is a continuation of the company’s longtime connection and support of P-H-M and the local community. Zolman’s Tire has made financial contributions to the Penn Marching Band as well as to the high school’s football, rugby, hockey and robotics teams. The company is also a sponsor of PHMEF’s annual “Silver Mile Run for Education.” President Nate Zolman is a 1988 graduate of Penn High School, along with his siblings.

"Zolman's Tire & Auto Care is excited to become a strategic partner with the P-H-M Education Foundation on opportunities that will benefit the students of this community," said Nate Zolman. "Both Zolman’s and the Foundation’s commitment to P-H-M students’ education, experiences, growth and quality of life is unparalleled! We are proud to become a long-term partner."

“When community business leaders like Nate Zolman invest in PHMEF’s endowment and the teacher professional development, they are helping ensure that P-H-M students will have continued access to the best education for years to come” said Mari Linn M. Wise, executive director of P-H-M Education Foundation.

More About Zolman’s Tire and Auto Care

Bud & Diane Zolman started in the tire industry in 1963 working for Corporate Firestone. In 1963, Bud Zolman and Ray Monteith started Monteith Tire in Bud’s home town of Warsaw, Indiana. Bud & Diane opened their own store in Mishawaka in 1978. Son of Bud & Diane now president of Zolman’s Tire and Auto Care, Nate Zolman, spearheaded the opening of the company's first satellite store in Granger in 1995. Over the next nine years six other locations were opened: Edison Road in Mishawaka (August 1997); South Bend, near the University of Notre Dame (December 1997); Niles, Michigan (1999); downtown South Bend (2004); second Mishawaka location (2004); and Commercial Tire and Heavy Duty Truck Repair in South Bend (2004). With eight locations across Michiana, Zolman's Tire & Auto Care employs more than 100 employees. Zolman's Tire prides itself on family values and giving back to the community. For more than 40 years, Zolman's has supported many local charities, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Joseph County, Angel of Hope, United Way, Corvilla, P-H-M Education Foundation, P-H-M School Corporation and programs at Penn High School. Zolman’s also sponsors Harris Township Junior Baseball Softball Association along with many travel baseball leagues. To learn more, please visit www.zolmantire.com.

To learn about the P-H-M Education Foundation, please visit www.phmef.org.

To learn more about Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, please visit www.phmschools.org/why-p-h-m. 
 

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Naming Rights Timeline Fact Sheet
 

• In August 2014, P-H-M Education Foundation recognized two local families for their longtime support, in-kind donations and financial contributions to P-H-M educational programs:
  • The music rooms at all P-H-M's elementary schools were named after Jim and Julie Schwartz (represents $50,000 worth of donations over 10 years)
  • The Band Room at Penn High School was named after the Doshi family (represents $15,000 worth of donations over 10 years)

• Lionshead Penn High School Soccer Field
  • Board approved September 2014
  • $25,000 payable over 5 years

• Dar and Dot Wiekamp Penn High School Tennis Courts
  • Board approved September 2014
  • $25,000 payable over 5 years

• May Oberfell Lorber Penn High School Softball Field
  • Board approved October 2014
  • $25,000 payable over 5 years

• TCU Freed Field
  • Board approved June 22, 2015
  • $400,000 payable over 12 years
  • This agreement was a continuation of a long standing partnership. TCU’s commitment represents more than the renaming of the high school football field. TCU is collaborating with P-H-M educators to develop financial literacy programs, scholarships, functions and activities.

• The Zolman Tire Concession Stand (north Concession stand at TCU Freed Field)
  • Board approved January 11, 2016
  • $25,000, payable over 5 years with 12-year naming rights