The information below was sent to P-H-M families on Friday, March 26, 2021.

Dear P-H-M Families,

In the District’s ongoing efforts to provide opportunities for P-H-M staff to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, we worked with Meijer to provide a vaccination clinic on March 8 for the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.

1,170 people were vaccinated, including staff from P-H-M and neighboring school districts, as well as some community members. This included over 700 P-H-M staff, representing about half of our entire workforce.

Meijer is returning next Monday, March 29, to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to staff and community members who were vaccinated at our clinic three weeks ago. 

As part of our weekly meeting with the St. Joseph County Department of Health, it was shared with us that we should expect 15-30% of P-H-M employees to experience mild to adverse effects after receiving the second shot.

We know that other area school districts had to call eLearning days after their staff members experienced some side effects following the second dose of the Moderna vaccine. If 15-30% of P-H-M staff members called in sick for Tuesday, March 30, we would not be able to transport, feed or teach our students.  

Based on this information, we are calling an eLearning Day for grades K-12th grade for next Tuesday, March 30. This day will be an eLearning day (just like what is called due to weather), NOT a virtual learning day. Teachers will not be teaching live on Tuesday. Head Start, PreK (Early Learning Academy and PennPALS), and Young Adult programs are all canceled for March 30. However, eLearning lessons will be provided for Early Learning Academy, PennPALS, and Young Adult programs.

The regular eLearning Day responsibilities of teachers will be in place next Tuesday. If a teacher is not sick, he/she will be online and responsive to student questions and to offer additional support and clarification as needed throughout the school day. If a teacher is taking a sick day on Tuesday, they will notify students and families through email and other normal modes of class communication and will not be available online that day. The classroom teachers will give specifics and assignment due dates of the eLearning lessons.

We know that this is a disruption and an inconvenience for our families at a time when we are trying to return all students to 100% in-person learning. Having nearly half of our workforce fully vaccinated through our Meijer clinic coupled with the state opening up vaccine eligibility to people 16 and older will ultimately help school districts return to near normal, pre-pandemic operations of educating students. We hope that parents, guardians, and families will also personally consider getting vaccinated to help our greater community, state and country. Thank you for being valued partners.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Penn Baseball Practice has started.

A Pennant Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn Softball Practice is underway. The Kingsmen open the 2021 season on Saturday, March 27. First pitch for the Varsity Game is set for 12:30 p.m.

The Penn Boys and Girls Track Teams competed in an inter-squad meet on Friday, April 12, 2021.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Almost a year to the date Indiana schools shut down (P-H-M schools shut down on March 12, 2020), P-H-M teachers and staff got a literal shot in the arm and marked a major step forward in our fight against COVID-19.

On Monday, March 8, 202, Meijer Pharmacy set up a vaccination clinic inside the Main Arena at Penn High School and administered 1,170 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. 

Every P-H-M teacher and staff member who wanted to get the vaccine was able to do so. 

The vaccines were made available under the federal allotment of vaccines through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. The White House announced that the federal allotment would be open to educational staff at schools so teachers and staff could receive the vaccine, especially in states where educational staff had not been included in the first responder group. P-H-M Human Resources reached out to Meijer as word spread that they were working with Indiana schools to set up on-site vaccination clinics.

We are so thankful to the team at Meijer and to EVERYBODY at P-H-M who worked so hard to make this event happen on very short notice. 

Jenni McCarthy, a kindergarten teacher at Bittersweet Elementary said “I honestly have to say that it was fantastic when I found out that we could get them right here at school. I didn’t have to go anywhere. I didn’t have to sign up on any list, I didn’t have to do anything. It just goes to show that Penn-Harris-Madison is a great place to work because they always think of their employees first and are trying to make sure that we are safe to be back in the classroom.”

In addition to the over 700 P-H-M staff members who received a vaccine, we also reached out to area schools to make doses available to others as well. P-H-M felt it was important to share any extra vaccines with educators and staff from other school districts and private schools within P-H-M’s boundaries so that no vaccines would be wasted. 

Dr. Jerry Thacker, P-H-M’s superintendent of schools said “…this just has a tremendous positive impact on the feeling the teachers, all school employees and the students have with regards to receiving a vaccine. They know they’re going to be safer, so this is the first step in that. It also gives us a barometer of what we need to be doing in the future with regard to reaching out and making sure that we can get our students back [in person].”

Watch the video to get a fuller sense of what the day was like. Meijer will return to Penn Monday, March 29th to administer the second dose. 

To download high-resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, 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!

Penn High School Music Instructor Aaron Griesser has been awarded a Martin's Super Markets "One School at a Time" $1,000 grant. The grant will be applied to the "Evening of Jazz" concert.

The "One School at a Time" program aims to help teachers provide better education to students. According to Griesser, one of Penn's jazz band parents, Clare Roach, was instrumental in completing the grant application.

The grant money will be used to purchase sound equipment for the Penn jazz ensembles, including professional-level microphones and mic stands. This will allow a more enjoyable listening experience for families at Penn's annual "Evening of Jazz" concert, which is one of the biggest events for the Penn band program. The grant will also further our mission of providing musical entertainment to the community with new sound equipment for performances.

"Evening of Jazz" will be presented on Thursday, May 13, at 6 p.m. at Central Park in Mishawaka.

The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) announced that Penn High School Senior Sydney Domal is receiving its Aspirations in Computing award. Sydney has excelled in her technology classes and plans to attend Purdue to study Aerospace Engineering.

Sunday, March 7, is the College Goal Sunday FAFSA Assistance Event (CGS) from 2-4 p.m. 

Click here for FAFSA support information. 

FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid – enables college-bound high school seniors to apply for federal grants, work-study, and loans. Your college uses your FAFSA data to determine your federal aid eligibility. Many states and colleges use FAFSA data to award their own aid.

The St. Joseph County Public Library is opening its LaSalle & Tutt branches during this time for assistance and increased computer access. The LaSalle Branch is located at 3232 Ardmore Trail, South Bend, and the Tutt Branch is located at 2223 Miami St., South Bend.

Seniors must complete by April 15th to maintain 21st Century Scholar status.

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) announced last month that “due to the ongoing disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, the College Entrance Exam (SAT/ACT) activity of the Scholar Success Program (SSP) will not be required for senior 21st Century Scholars graduating in the spring of 2021.  This is for class of 2021 only and if possible, CHE is still encouraging students to take an exam.

Other activities include Quick Start grant application process open for YOUR 21st Century Scholar enrollment or SSP activities (up to $2,500), communications audit documenting how we’re all currently communicating about 21st Century Scholars, SSP event planning (more info to follow), and expanding resources available online.  For more info, visit our website.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced that 11 Penn High School students have been named National Merit Scholarship Competition Finalists.

Jayden Bell, Sydney Domal, Reagan Hoke, Anna Huber, Maya Kvaratskhelia, Evan Li, Ryan Ludwig, Joseph Radde, Aidan Sweeney, Benjamin VanderVeen and Grace Waddell earned National Merit Scholarship Competition distinction as Finalists.

Penn’s Finalists are eligible for the 7,600 National Merit Scholarship Competition scholarships that will be awarded.

More than 1.5 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the National Merit Scholarship Program. Approximately 16,000 semifinalists were named, and 90 percent of those were selected as finalists.

National Merit finalists were chosen based on their academic record, extracurricular activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards. They submitted an essay, excelled on the SAT, and were recommended by a high school official.

Since its founding, NMSC has recognized over 3.3 million students and provided some 449,000 scholarships worth over $1.8 billion. The honors awarded by NMSC to exceptionally able students are viewed as definitive marks of excellence.

Penn High School’s Wrestling Team claimed the Championship of the Penn Wrestling Regional.

A Photo Gallery by Penn High School student Brayden McMillen is posted below.