The Penn Boys Basketball Team beat Plymouth 69-45 on Saturday, Feb. 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Basketball Team defeated Jimtown, 60-37, on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Penn-Harris-Madison Supt. Dr. Jerry Thacker and Principal Sean Galiher honored Penn’s Academic Award winners prior to the game.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Girls Basketball Team played against Zionsville in the Class 4-A Semi-state at LaPorte on Saturday, Feb. 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Swim Team competed in the IHSAA Sectional hosted by Penn on Saturday, Feb 17.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Swimming and Diving Team placed 13th in the State Championships on Saturday, Feb. 24.
 
Penn's 200 freestyle relay team (Matthew Rach, Ethan Backhus, Joel Cummins, Axel Brandenburg) placed seventh in the state in 1:26.29 to lead the Kingsmen effort.
 
Penn's 400 freestyle relay team (Matthew Rach, Axel Brandenburg, Aaron Dies, Evan Dies) placed 12th in the state in 3:11.02.
 
Penn's Matthew Rach placed 15th in the state in the 50 freestyle in 21.38.
 
Penn's 200 medley relay team (Aaron Dies, Evan Dies, Joel Cummins, Ethan Backhus) placed 15th in the state in 1:37.52.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced that six Penn students have been named National Merit Scholarship Finalists. Galiher made the announcement on Friday, Feb. 23.

Nicholas Casetti, Margaret Finnessy, Kristine Hocker, Shane Hullinger, Kendra Laidig and Renee Yaseen earned the coveted National Merit Scholarship Finalist status, and are eligible for National Merit Scholarship Finalists.

"We are very excited for these students,” Galiher said.  “This accomplishment reflects the collective efforts of each student, their teachers and family.  Our teachers take great pride in challenging our students and preparing them through rigorous and relevant coursework."

Casetti, Finnessy, Hocker, Hullinger, Laidig and Yaseen were named National Merit Semifinalists in September. Among the Penn students who were named Commended Scholars by The National Merit Scholarship Program were Grace Brown, Zachary Buford, Jacob Cira, Madeline Cullison, Badin Cummings, Morgan Jankowski, Veronica Kirgios, David Li, Connor Liverett, Hanna Malik, Evan Mercurio, Maheera Siddique, Kyle VandeWalle and Jack Wheet.

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. 

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 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.

Of the 1.6 million entrants in the 63^rd annual competition, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

About 16,000 students of the 1.6 million entrants earn Semifinalist status. These academically talented students then have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million offered to them the spring of their senior year.

A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 advance to the Finalist level, and were notified in February of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners are selected from this group of Finalists. 

Penn High School is bringing a family favorite onto the stage.

The Penn Fine Arts and Communications Academy is presenting, “Shrek, the Musical”, at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 4.

The showings will be held within the Center for Performing Arts (enter through Door C).

Tickets are $10 pre-sale by clicking here to access Penn Theater’s TicketTracker.com online ticket store, or $12 at the door.
 

Penn student C. Monte Teeple, starring as Lord Farquaad, said that the musical as a contemporary appeal.

“Unlike a lot of musicals that you would find locally, Shrek is a much more modern show,” Teeple said. “This not only means that many jokes and much of the humor will be understood by students, but also that the actual songs and music are far more modern as well.”

The plot of “Shrek the Musical” revolves around a hated Ogre (Shrek) and a talking donkey who go on a quest to save Princess Fiona in order to reclaim Shrek’s swamp.

Lord Farquaad claimed the swamp and has housed all magical creatures there.

From a deeper point of view, the story is about the misfits and those who don’t fit in, and finding your place in the world.

Penn High School student-athletes are used to encouraging fellow high school students to pursue excellence in the classroom or in the athletic arena.

On Friday, Feb. 23, 2018, Kingsmen student-athletes were encouraging Bittersweet Elementary Students to try their best on the upcoming ISTEP. The ISTEP testing window is Monday, Feb. 26 – Friday, March 9, 2018.

Penn High School’s Student-Athlete Leadership Council staged an ISTEP Pep Rally to encouraged third, fourth and fifth-graders to prepare and make their best effort on the upcoming state-standardized tests. Click here to see the full photo gallery below.

The Kingsmen sprinted into the Bittersweet Gym and dished out high-fives to nearly 300 Bittersweet students who were gathered there. Student-Athletes Noah Applegate, Payton Kerr and Brandon Stahl then performed a inspirational ISTEP rap.

After that, Notre Dame Football recruit Paul Moala conducted an ISTEP preparation activity called “Are You Smarter Than a High School  Student?”

An exhibition of soccer skills by Molly McLaughlin and Brandon Stahl demonstrated the value of teamwork, focus and preparation, while a basketball relay stressed the importance of encouraging others and always trying your best. 

The Kingsmen also shared their tips for ISTEP success with students, and closed the session out by distributing baseball cards featuring the Student-Athlete Leadership Council members. The baseball cards included background information on the Kingsmen student-athletes, advice to youngsters and ISTEP tips.

Members of Penn’s Student-Athlete Leadership Council are:

• Sara Doi (Girls Basketball, 2016 State Champ, 2018 Regional champion)
• Mackenzie Griman (Softball, state RBI leader, team ranked in Top 10 in the nation last year, Butler recruit)
• Maya Lacognato (2X State Champion Girls Soccer, nation’s No. 1 team)
• Kendra Laidig (Girls Track, Lilly Scholar)
• Molly McLaughlin (2X State Champion Girls Soccer, nation’s No. 1 team)
• Mallory Newman (Softball, team ranked in Top 10 in the nation last season)
• Noah Applegate (Basketball, the sixth 1,000-point scorer in Penn Boys Basketball history)
• Rockne Hurley (Football and Wrestling State Finalist)
• Payton Kerr (Baseball, State Finalist)
• Paul Moala (Football, State Finalist, Notre Dame recruit)
• James Morris (Football State Finalist, first-team all-state)
• Brandon Stahl (Soccer, Top 10 in the State last season)

Penn High School’s 9/10 TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Math and Science) entry placed first in a regional competition at Trine University on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

State champions and national qualifiers will be determined from regional events around the state in which test, design and essay scores are tabulated.

Penn’s 9/10 TEAMS entry was captained by Rebecca Mattson. Team members were Mattson, John Donaruma, Komal Kumar, Keaton Smith, Karen Wang, Hamid Al-fadhl, Mia Schwartz, and Courtney Sharpe.

Penn's dream of a Girls Basketball State Championship ended in the Semi-State with a 53-45 loss to Zionsville on Saturday, Feb. 17.

The Kingsmen, who won the State Championship in 2016, finished the season with a 26-2 record.

Reganne Pate led the Kingsmen in scoring with nine points.

Jordyn Smith and Sara Doi scored eight points each.

Antreese Shelton and Grace Adams scored seven points each.