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
     

Due to inclement weather, the Penn varsity and junior varsity girls basketball games against New Prairie, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, have been postponed.

The games have been rescheduled to Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, at Penn. The junior varsity game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET, and the varsity game will follow.

Also, due to inclement weather, the Penn freshmen girls basketball game against South Bend St. Joseph, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, has been postponed. No make-up date for the game has been rescheduled as of yet.

Parents of Penn sophomores, new this year, 10th graders will be required to take ISTEP! The Indiana Department of Education has released the testing windows for ISTEP+ for the 2015-2016 school year. ISTEP will begin in late February. In most cases, part 1 of ISTEP will be done with paper/pencil and Part 2 will be done online.

New this year:  In preparation for 2016 ISTEP+, the IDOE has now made ISTEP+ “Experience” available through Pearson, allowing students and parents to experience various technology-enhanced item types that will appear on the ISTEP+ Part 2 assessment as often as they like from home, at school, or on mobile devices. “Experience” is presented via the Pearson online platform (TestNav 8) that will be used for ISTEP+ online testing, as well as IREAD-3 online testing. P-H-M families can access ISTEP+ “Experience” through the P-H-M District website, as well as through the link provided on the RESOURCES menu of every school website.

Indiana Statewide Testing of Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+ ) Grades 3-8, and 10

                                                                      Window Begins                                         Window Ends

ISTEP+ Part 1 – paper/pencil                        February 29, 2016                                       March 11, 2016
(Applied Skills)

ISTEP+ Part 2 – online                                  April 18, 2016                                               May 6, 2016
(Multiple-choice & Technology-enhanced items)

For more information on the state assessment testing windows, please visit the Indiana Department of Education website, www.doe.in.gov/assessment.

Penn High School’s Robotics Team 135 is awaiting the worldwide release of the  FIRST Robotics FRC Game Challenge on Saturday, January 9. The event, which is open to the public, will start at 10 a.m. ET. It will be held in Penn’s Large Group Instruction Room A (enter through rear Door J).

After the game release, Penn Robotics Team 135 begins its journey to design and build this year's FRC Competition Robot.  This is the 19th season for Penn Robotics in the FIRST Competition. 

Last year, Team 135 was honored with the highest award in the state, The Indiana State Chairman's Award, and also won the Kokomo District Tournament. 

Penn Robotics Team 135 was in the local news this past year for assisting with the Hand of Grace project, helping build a prosthetic arm for a local third-grade student.  For more information about the organization, please visit our website: www.team135.org.

More than 75,000 students from around the world will watch the live-feed from FIRST® Robotics' headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, to find out the goal of this season's competition. Each year a new game is introduced, and teams have six weeks to design and build a robot, which will compete at local, regional and national events.

At Saturday’s kickoff, teams will be shown the game and challenge details for the first time, and will receive a Kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials, and a mix of additional automation components.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that challenges high- school students – working alongside professional Mentors – to construct a robot of their own, and compete in the ultimate Sport for the Mind™ that 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; and qualify for over $25 million in college scholarships.

About FIRST®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people.

Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $25 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST® LEGO® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. for Grades K-3. 

Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to http://www.firstinspires.org/.

About IndianaFIRST

IndianaFIRST is an organization dedicated to growing FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics programs in the state of Indiana. FIRST is a multinational non-profit organization that aspires to transform our culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today. Founded in the fall of 2001 as the Indiana-based affiliate of FIRST, IndianaFIRST brings FIRST programming to students in grades K-12, teaching them hands-on skills in engineering, science, and technology that they can relate back to their class work. Kids compete against other kids in local, state, and regional competitions in what is frequently called "The Super Bowl of Smarts."

TEASER VIDEO for the competition: https://youtu.be/FVLdJdoKK2E

MORE DETAILS: http://www.usfirst.org/frc2016

LIVE VIDEO FEED:

Comcast NBCUniversal broadcast and webcast. Access the webcast

via http://comca.st/frc2016

Penn High School Student Talent Show will be Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. in Penn’s Center for Performing Arts.

Cost to attend the talent show is $5 at the box office the night of the show.

There will be 11 acts, ranging from a Barbershop quarter, to belly dancing.

The talent shows have showcased the diversity and creativity of Penn’s students.

“The range of acts we've seen in the past is extensive, from a beat-box supported yo-yoist, to a student designed costume/choreographed dance skit, to lip-sync, to canned music/live singing, to student composed/written solo and power trio acts,” Coffee said. “We've seen a scene from the competition play headed to the State Thespian Fest, hooping, hula, duets, self-written comedy acts, SNL interpretations, Python interpretations, comedic monologues, you name it. 

“We have extremely talented, unique students who have gifts to share, and we love to see the student who seems pretty insulated in the classroom take the kind of risk you see at the Talent Show.”