Penn High School Art Instructor Barbara Miller received the Art Education Association of Indiana's Outstanding Educator Award at the state convention on Oct. 23, 2021.

Recipients of the award are recognized for demonstrating excellence in the classroom, active participation and leadership at the local, state, and/or national level, publications and/or exhibits, advocacy for the arts, and other art education related accomplishments.

Miller, who is also the curator/director of the Kingsmen Art Gallery, received her degree to teach art 1-12 from Ball State University in 1982. She taught at Mishawaka Catholic schools for two years, subbed for five years in four corporations, and taught Photography at Washington High School for one year prior to coming to Penn. She has been teaching at Penn since 1994.

“I love what I do as an Art Teacher,” Miller said. “I love art, teaching about art, and kids. I can't imagine doing anything else as a career. I love to make art of any kind, including drawing, photography, printmaking, jewelry, fiber art, sculpture, and poetry.

Miller’s works have been displayed in in numerous local exhibits in galleries and museums. She is a member of The Indiana Women’s Caucus for the Arts and the National Art Education Association. She has served on the Scholastic Art Committee since 1994 to help make worthy exhibition possible for students. It is the longest running and one of the largest and most prestigious art competitions for junior high and high school students in the nation.

A three-time Scholastic Award winner as a high school student, Miller has guided her students to numerous national, state and district awards.

“I feel truly honored to receive this award,” Miller said of the AEAI award. “As an art teacher who loves my job and my students, getting awards and honors for myself has never been my goal, however, it is an honor and very appreciated. I am truly humbled to receive this award. 

The Penn High School Orchestras performed a Fright Night Concert on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn High School choir and Discovery, Grissom and Schmucker Middle School choirs will perform a free Viva Voce concert at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, in the Penn Center for the Performing Arts.

Penn's Viva Voce will perform 7 pieces together, including a medley from Nightmare Before Christmas. The middle school choirs will perform three songs together, and then all of the choirs will join together for the final two songs, one of which is entitled "Sisi Ni Moja" which translates to "We Are One."

Penn High School presents the "Fright Night" Orchestra on Thursday, Oct. 28, and Friday, Oct. 29, in Penn's Center for the Performing Arts. The concert is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. each night. Cost is $5 a person.

The Fright Night Orchestra concert is a celebration of the Halloween spirit!  Our five orchestras will perform fun and scary music to delight all of our big and little Ghouls and friends! 

The playlist includes:

• Phantom of the Opera
• Ghostbusters
• Harry's Wondrous World – from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas
• Cruella De Vil
• Danny Elfman Spooktacular (Corpse Bride, Dark Shadows, Beetlejuice)
• A Halloween Thriller

The Penn High School Fall Play will feature three student-directed one-act plays.

The performances are scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 14, and 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 15, in Penn’s Center for the Performing Arts (enter at Door C).

Tickets are $5 a person.

The one-act plays:

"Dinner With the MacGuffins," by Chris Sheppard & Jeff Grove

• Directed by Shelly Werner & Joe Villalba
• What seems like an ordinary family doing ordinary things one evening turns very quickly into a whirlwind of secret agents, suspicions, and noisy cell phone interruptions.

"10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse," by Don Zolidis

• Directed by Molly Knight & Payton Mead
• If (and when) the zombie apocalypse happens, do you know what to do? Broken down into 10 options, each scenario is played out to humorous results.

"The Seussification of a Midsummer Night's Dream," by Pete Bloedel

• Directed by Paige Corwin & Ella Robertson
• Sure, you think that you know Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but you'll soon be bamboozled by this theatrical team! The characters are here, And you may know their names, but the words that they say don't all sound quite the same. There are a few changes, and the story is loose. In fact all the zaniness may be closest to Seuss!

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced that 10 Penn students have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

Hala Ansari, Manaal Buchh, Marin Chester, Alexander Du, Salem Fitwi, Arthur Haines, Evan Nayee, Luca Nijim, Jeremiah Roach and Matthew Zhang achieved the academic distinction of National Merit Scholar Semifinalist.

Nearly 16,000 high school students across the country have been named Semifinalists in the 67th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar title.

High school juniors entered the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

Principal Sean Galiher announced that 13 Penn High School students have earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs.

Tasneem Ahmed, Salem Fitwi, Aja Fowler, Zion Hackett, Johnnay Johnson, Sydney Kiner and Julius Smith were named College Board National African-American Recognition Program Scholars.

Grace Besse, Ethan Derby, Adia Holt, Tatiana Lambertt, Caroline Quinquio and Monica Ramirez were named College Board Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars.

These National Recognition Programs grant underrepresented students with academic honors that can be included on college and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country, helping them meaningfully connect to colleges and stand out during the admissions process. Colleges and scholarship programs identify students awarded National African American, Hispanic, Indigenous and/or Rural/Small Town Recognition through College Board’s Student Search Service.

Students who may be eligible have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and have excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10, or earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP Exams; and are African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, and/or attend school in a rural area or small town.

Penn High School will host the Carnival of Bands on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021, at TCU Freed Field.

The 30^th annual marching band showcase will begin at 2:55 p.m., followed by competition starting at 3 p.m.

The Penn Marching Kingsmen, under the direction of Glenn Northern, are scheduled to conclude the competition with a special exhibition performance at 9:15 p.m.

Tickets are $8 (children under 4 are admitted free) and can be purchased at the gate.

Click here for the complete schedule.

Penn student-athletes got a visit from a very special person today … Penn Class of 2012 alumna and Olympic Volleyball Gold Medalist Annie Drews! Students got to meet her, ask questions, hold the Gold Medal, deliver Kingsmen spirit wear and even take selfies with Annie! Click to see the photo gallery below.

Annie, in town to visit her family and to plan her wedding, stopped by her alma mater to talk with, provide some words of wisdom and inspire current Penn student-athletes.

Fresh off her return from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Annie met with three groups of students on Friday morning (August 27, 2021):

• Q&A with the Penn Volleyball Team
   
   
• Q&A with the Penn Student-Athlete Leadership Council. Annie talked about Servant Leadership, teamwork, being there for your team and teammates, selfless commitment to your team, the value of leadership to a team's success, and her faith.
  
   
• Q&A with Penn female student-athletes. Annie discussed the empowerment of female athletes, finding your voice, the value of sisterhood, and important takeaways from athletics.
  

On-hand for Annie’s visit with students was her former Penn Volleyball Coach. Annie is from Elkhart and started at Elkhart Central High School, but then transferred to Penn and helped the team win two 4A state championships in both 2010 and 2011. Annie graduated from Penn and went on to play for Purdue making Team USA in 2017. Annie is Indiana’s first-ever Olympic volleyball player! Annie lives and trains in Southern California and plays Pro Volleyball in Japan. Read Annie’s full athletic bio on the USA Volleyball website.

See the photo gallery below. To download high-resolution jpg files, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you, free of charge!

Registration for the Penn Youth Girls Basketball League for students in Grades 3-8 will be held on Sunday, Sept. 12, from 12:00-2 p.m..

When: Sunday, Sept. 12, 12:00-2 p.m.

Where: Penn High School/ Enter through Door D 

Price: $125 

Space is limited to the first 108 athletes per age group.

Please read this flyer thoroughly!