It’s a good day to be a Kingsmen! Today we welcomed back students to in-person, hybrid learning.

Students whose last names begin with A-L came back to fill the halls of our school. While the rest continued to learn virtually, it won’t be long until our M-Z students are back.

We were so happy to see our students again, we can’t wait to see the rest!

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 students may pick-up or drop-off materials for their classes on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Students can enter at Door A. The items will be in the IMC.
 

Beginning Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, Canvas will roll out the new Rich Content Editor (RCE) in all Canvas courses.

The new Rich Content Editor is an update to the previous Canvas Rich Content Editor. It provides a condensed, more intuitive toolbar that is grouped by common icons and interactions. Several features in Canvas support the New Rich Content Editor, including Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes.

Click here for an instructional video and directions on how to use the new Rich Content Editor.

Click to read Principal Sean Galiher’s parent email and to fill out Penn’s Second Semester Parent Questionnaire by Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.

The email below from P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker was sent to parents on Thursday, January 7, 2021.

Back on November 18 when I notified P-H-M secondary families that St. Joseph County Department of Health (SJCDH) was recommending area school districts revert secondary students from hybrid to virtual, I explained that this would only be temporary to cover the time before, during and after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays. This was one of several recommendations that SJCDH made in mid-November in an effort to help lessen the impact of COVID community cases on our local health systems. 
 

I shared with you at that time that it was our goal to bring middle and high school students back to school on the hybrid model beginning Tuesday, January 19, pending SJCDH guidance. This week P-H-M Administration discussed secondary students’ return to school with the SJCDH and I am happy to report that they support the return of our middle and high school students to the hybrid model on Jan.19th.
 

We know that our students receive the most ideal instruction through face-to-face learning. It is in our students’ best interest for their academic success and social emotional well being to receive as much face-to-face instruction as COVID health safety precautions will allow. We are in a position to return to hybrid learning because of the following:
 

• The most common contributors to community spread are social gatherings in which COVID safety protocols are not observed.
• In recent local news reports, SJCDH states local hospitals are in a better position now than they were before Thanksgiving and that the post Thanksgiving surge was relatively modest. SJCDH is relatively hopeful that the post Christmas/New Year’s holiday surge will also be modest.
• P-H-M tracks the number of student and staff COVID cases and actively conducts contact tracing on all cases reported to us. We proactively ask students and staff identified as close contacts to quarantine. The cases reported to us are reflected on P-H-M’s COVID Dashboard; a link to the Dashboard is on the homepage of P-H-M’s district website. The Dashboard is updated daily except for weekends, holidays, and district breaks.
• Most secondary parents support their students returning to the Hybrid model for their students’ academic and social emotional well being.
• All P-H-M parents, at all grade levels, have the option to keep their students 100% virtual. 
• We expect a modest number of secondary families will choose to keep their students virtual, which will further reduce the number of students in the buildings and classrooms.

Secondary principals will be asking their parents to return a survey declaring whether their student will remain virtual or return on hybrid. If you are a parent of a secondary student, please look for that email from your building principal and return your responses as soon as possible. Click to read Principal Sean Galiher’s parent email and to fill out Penn’s Second Semester Parent Questionnaire by Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.

All COVID safety protocols as laid out in the Staff Return to Learn, the District Overview Return to Learn, and building level Return to Learn plans remain in effect. Among our many protocols, masks will still be required along with social distancing of 6 feet or more whenever possible.

Regardless if your child is virtual, in-person or hybrid, please continue to monitor your child’s health every day using this ISDH screening tool. Please do not send your child(ren) to school if they experience any of the following symptoms: fever or chills, sore throat, uncontrollable or new cough or shortness of breath or difficulty breathing (especially new onset), diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain, headache (especially new onset of severe headache with fever, or new loss of taste or smell). 
 

Also, please do not send your student(s) to school if they have had close contact with a known positive case, including in your own household, or awaiting test results. When you have a positive case (tested or clinical) in your household, the positive case should self-isolate away from the rest of the family members and the family should remain in quarantine. 
 

We also ask all P-H-M staff members to self-monitor their health and practice these same safety prevention guidelines. We continue to record cases of students and staff who are virtual. Therefore, parents should still report to your school principal if your virtual student has tested positive, and staff should also report if they are aware of a virtual student who is positive.

For more information on COVID-19 & P-H-M’s safety mitigation protocols, please visit our Return to Learn page.
 

Stay healthy and well and thank you for your continued flexibility and partnership as we work to provide the best education possible to your students.
 

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Superintendent of Schools

CLICK HERE to download and print the secondary hybrid model beginning 1/19/21.

The Penn High School Hockey Team catered a meal to the Ronald McDonald House in November, and collected funds for the Salvation Army in December as part of their monthly service projects.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn High School Softball Team donated blankets, cookies, toys and other essential items to the Ronald McDonald House in South Bend for one of their service projects. 

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Principal Sean Galiher and Penn FFA sponsor Mel Lenig announced that Penn students MacKenzy Binion and Georgia Pogue were both named national winners in the National FFA Organization's Supervised Agricultural Experience Grant Program.

Each student has earned a $1,000 grant to expand their SAE programs.

Binion is studying the nutritional needs of small reptilian companion animals and Pogue is studying the effects of selection on the genetics of Hereford cattle.

During a normal school year, Penn High School students enrolled in Childhood Development classes would be offering two unique programs for preschoolers in our community,  Playschool and Toddler Time.
 

However due to COVID suspending these programs for the time being, Penn Child Development teachers Mrs. Kylee Wetzel and Ms. Rachael Meyers have created lessons that children can do in their own homes. 

The Penn High School Early Childhood Education Classes are offering free eLearning lessons to children in the P-H-M community within the age ranges of 1-10 years old.

Children can participate at home with a caregiver, or during the school day via Google Meet with the Penn student facilitating the lesson.

Please fill out the Enrollment Form by Friday, Jan. 15 in order to participate.

Please contact Kylee Wetzel at kwetzel@phm.k12.in.us for any further information.

By BRADY SMITH

Penn High School Student Reporter

Penn High School Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates, just added another accomplishment to his resume as he was named the State Director of the National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA).

Cates graduated from Portage High School and went on to Manchester University, where he played football. Cates has coached at multiple schools, including Portage, Michigan City, Martinsville and Penn High School. 

Cates graduated with a Physical Education and Health Teaching K-12 at Manchester. He holds certificates for strength and conditioning through 3 additional organizations (USAW, HSSCS, SSC). Cates has served as the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Penn for five years.

“As a coach, I want students to know that they will be given as many opportunities as needed to grow," Cates said. "We are all in this together, good or bad, we will continue to work and have that growth mindset.”

Cates' goal, as a teacher, is to provide a culture of growth. This will cover leadership, physical strength, mental health, accountability, and of course, pride. When you walk into the weight room, he believes there is one mindset, “Be the best version of yourself.”

Cates explained that enhancing athletic performance is a lot more than lifting weights. Penn's Strength and Conditioning classes gives students opportunities to improve their confidence, show accountability, maintain a healthy lifestyle, demonstrate discipline, and allows all athletes to unite for the same common goal of excellence.

Nina Pulja, now a sophomore at Penn High School, said,  “Coach Cates is a coach that motivates met to get up and work harder every single day so I can grow to not only be a better athlete, but also a better person inside and outside the classroom.”

Cates said that being selected as the State Director of the National High School Strength Coaches Association is an enormous honor. The job entails many different responsibilities and expectations.

Coach Cates vision' for the State Association is to continue the resources and educational experiences/relationships for all high schools in Indiana, and to continue to grow the message of importance of strength and conditioning for high school-aged athletes. The organization is not just for strength coaches and physical education teachers, but all who interact with students and student-athletes. The main goal is to continue Indiana’s success in strength and conditioning and make it a flagship state of the nation.

The state director is a three-year term with the option of an additional three years.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher and English 9 Teacher Kevin McNulty accepted a donation of 90 Rocketbook Fusion notebooks from PTO President Jessica Saros on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020.

The Rocketbook Fusion notebooks that the PTO donated to McNulty's English 9/Honors students through a PTO grant.

With a class set of Rocketbook Fusion notebooks, secondary students will return to using their handwriting as a way of thinking, analyzing literature, sharing ideas, sketching out thoughts, planning their weeks, organizing their goals, and publishing their handwritten artifacts.