At the Monday, March 25, 2024 Board Meeting, the P-H-M Board of School Trustees voted to award the contract to construct Penn High School’s new Fieldhouse.

This investment for our students will NOT raise taxes for the residents of P-H-M. The administration and board are committed to fiscal responsibility and we are in excellent financial health. P-H-M has the lowest tax rate in St. Joseph County while being dedicated to delivering the highest academic outcomes. 

Construction will begin immediately with anticipated substantial completion for the start of the 2025-26 school year. 

This project, designed by Architect Mike Schipp of Fanning Howey and engineered by P-H-M parent Troy Madlem of Magnus Engineering utilizes the most economical building methods to provide a great value for the investment in this 80,000 square-foot facility.

Watch the video animation above or click here. Here are some of the features that will be included:

• 6-lane indoor 200m track and enough space to support indoor field events like pole vault, long jump, high jump, and shot put
• dropdown activity nets that will allow for baseball, softball, and golf to practice hitting
• two traditional wood courts and two multi-purpose floored courts to support basketball, volleyball, dance, tennis, the winter guard, and so much more! School dances, community gatherings, youth sports, robotics, and the marching band will utilize this great facility.
• When completed it will have four (4) locker rooms, two (2) classrooms, an athletic training room, bleacher seating for over 800 people, storage to support housing equipment for our programming needs, an observation hallway servicing the second floor, a security office, concession stand, and event parking!

The construction will not impact the daily operations of Penn High School. Construction of the new fieldhouse will take place off of McKinley in the area between the new Culvers Restaurant and the Penn Fire Station.

This new facility will increase the amount of active learning space available before, during, and after the school day for academic programming and most importantly increase the total amount of space for all students to participate in extracurricular, co-curricular, and intramural offerings. MORE SPACE = MORE OPPORTUNITY. Research shows that increasing student opportunities and participation increases student achievement and academic success. 

The administration, in collaboration with Mr. Mike Schipp, Project Manager/Principal with Fanning Howey, recommends awarding a contract to construct the Penn High School Field House to the lowest and most responsive bidder, R. Yoder Construction Inc. of Nappanee for a base bid of $14,741,535.00 and Alternates no. 1, no. 3, no. 4., no. 6, and no. 8 for a total award of $15,926,745.00. 

Base Bid: $ 14,741,535.00

• Alt. #1: South Parking Lot $ 200,891.00
• Alt. #3: Decorative Resinous Flooring at Locker Rooms & Restrooms $ 56,000.00
• Alt. #4: Operable Wall $ 31,887.00
• Alt. #6: Interior Metal Liner Panel at Fieldhouse $ 51,744.00
• Alt. #8: Unit C – Support Addition of 4,700 SF $ 844,688.00

Total Contract Amount $ 15,926,745.00

A letter of recommendation from Fanning Howey and the bid tab sheet from the five (5) local bidders is found here.

Here are links to past public presentations:

• 7.24.23 Video Link & Presentation link: School Board Meeting
• 8.7.23 Video Link & Presentation link: School Board Meeting
• 8.21.23 Video Link & Presentation Link: School Board Meeting
• 9.6.23 Presentation Link: P-H-M Forum September 6th, 2023
• 3.25.24 Video Link & Presentation Link:  School Board Meeting

Penn-Harris-Madison School Superintendent Dr. and Mrs. Thacker donated $10,000 to the P-H-M Education Foundation Naming Rights Campaign to name the the plaza located at Penn High School’s everwise Freed Field the Yeoman Family Plaza, after Penn High School Retiring Head Football Coach Cory Yeoman and his family.

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 directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing the education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.

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.

On February 8, 2024, Hall of Famer Coach Cory Yeoman announced to Kingsmen student-athletes and assistant coaches that after 40 years with the Kingsmen he’d be retiring at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Coach Yeoman spent his first 19 years as an Assistant Coach under Hall of Famer ​Coach Chris Geesman, and the past 21 years as Head Coach. Yeoman took over the Kingsmen program in 2003 and compiled a 208-56 record overall.

In his first season after replacing legendary Coach Geesman, Yeoman guided Penn to the 2003 State Championship Game. Yeoman also led Penn to Semi-state titles in 2017, 2015 and 2011. In addition to winning four Semi-state Championships, the Kingsmen have won nine regional crowns under Yeoman’s leadership, 13 sectional titles and 17 Northern Indiana Conference championships. 

Coach Yeoman bleeds black and gold and has always been a Kingsmen. He played for Penn, earning all-state honors at defensive tackle. In 1979, Coach Yeoman led a Kingsmen defense that only allowed 33 yards rushing a game. That Kingsmen team finished 11-1, winning an NIC Championship before losing to Hobart in the second round of the playoffs. Yeoman graduated from Penn in 1980. Coach Yeoman is in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame, the first Penn player nominated for the Hall.

Coach Yeoman’s father, Wally Yeoman, coached under Chris Geesman. Wally then coached alongside Coach Cory. Brothers, Trent and Todd, were assistant coaches. Coach Cory coached his son Gary who played for Penn; Gary later also became an assistant coach.

At the March 25 meeting of the P-H-M Board of School Trustees, the Board approved the request of PHMEF to add the signage  to the plaza. The naming rights will be effective August 1, 2024 and will last for 12 years.

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 directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing the education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.

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.

A few hours after being introduced to his team as the Kingsmen’s new Head Football Coach, Pete Riordan was introduced to the South Bend sports media in his first news conference. News outlets in attendance were WHME-TV, WSBT, WNDU, ABC 57, and the South Bend Tribune. Students from PNN (Penn News Network) and The Pennant were also present and participated. Click here to see the full news conference. Click here to see a full photo gallery below.

Here are some highlights of the news conference. Penn High School Athletic Director Jeff Hart introduced Coach Pete, who made a few short remarks before opening up the discussion with reporter questions.

Also taking reporter questions were retiring Coach Cory Yeoman and Hall of Famer Chris Geesman. 

Returning Penn players Vinny Freeman and Kellen Watson also spoke to how excited they are to have Coach Pete take over. In the clip below Freeman talks about the sense of family that Coach Pete invoked at this morning’s team meeting.

Watson is also on the Penn Track & Field Team; as a member of the 4×100 team, Watson was one of the players that broke the school record. Watson was last year’s backup quarterback!

Click here to see the full news conference.

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While the Indianapolis area and south will experience 100% totality for the solar eclipse occurring on Monday, April 8, 2024, the St. Joseph County area will only experience 96%.

The Michiana area will start experiencing darkness at 1:53 p.m., lasting until 4:23 p.m., with 96% totality occurring at 3:09 p.m. and lasting just over 4 minutes.

Click to watch the video below and hear from P-H-M Digital Video Theater and Planetarium Director Melinda O’Malley as she shows us what to expect in our area.

Click here to see a Indiana Department of Natural Resources map of Indiana regions that will experience varying degrees of darkness.  Click here to also get more background information on the Great American Eclipse website.

Because the partial eclipse time is occurring around elementary school dismissal times and based on the recommendations of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the IDOE, P-H-M will have an eLearning day on April 8. Click here for more information on that decision.

Thanks to Old National Bank and P-H-M Education Foundation, all students will have a pair of eclipse glasses to use at home when watching the eclipse with their families. The glasses will be sent home the week of March 25 before P-H-M’s Spring Break.

DVT Director Mrs. O’Malley demonstrates how the eclipse glasses should be used.

• FIRST Indiana Robotics Tournament
• “Books & Bots” event for P-H-M’s elementary students
• “The Music Man” musical production in the evenings
• Kingsmen Art Gallery open highlighting artwork by student winners of the Scholastic Art Awards

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Football Cheerleading Tryouts will be Monday, March 25; Tuesday, March 26; and Wednesday, March 27 at Penn High School.

Those interested please email Coach Szweda for more information at rszweda@phm.k12.in.us.

A few times a year, the P-H-M Board of School Trustees holds their board meetings off-site at one of P-H-M’s 15 schools as a way to highlight for the Board and the community the education accomplishments and academic achievements taking place in the spotlight school. Click to see the full photo gallery below.

Monday, February 26 was Penn High School’s turn to shine!

Penn Principal Dr. Sean Galiher, Associate Principal Rachel Fry, Assistant Principals Sarah Hendricks, Jeanie Mitchell, and Josiah Parker, along with Athletic Director Jeff Hart, presented 2023-2024 first semester achievement report, which included data and information on academics, attendance, and athletics, along with recognitions of State Championship and Runners-Up teams, great teachers, mentors and coaches. Click here to see Principal Galiher’s full Board Presentation.

Intermingled in the presentations were performances by Penn Fine Arts groups like the student stars of the school musical, “The Music Man,” a quartet, the Jazz Band, and a tap dancer. Choir teacher Andrew Nemeth used the student performances to quiz Board Members on their musical knowledge with “Name that Tune.”  Click the YouTube link below to hear.

Some of the main highlights of Principal Galiher’s presentation to the Board highlighted Penn’s 98.12% graduation rate for 2023 and is on track to have the same for 2024. Looking at the freshmen class, 94.51% are “on-track” after 1st semester of the 2023-24 SY. The rest of Penn students are also doing well: 94.4% for sophomores, 94.6% for juniors, and 93.4% for seniors. The Class of 2024 is projected to have 52.4% graduate with Honors Diplomas.

In September of this school year, Penn was named a 2023 Cognia^® School of Distinction. Cognia is a global nonprofit school improvement organization grounded in research-based performance standards. They accredit 40,000 public and private schools in 90 countries; only 96 schools globally were recognized as Schools of Distinction, and Penn High School was among them, and the only high school in Indiana!

Cognia’s Mid-Atlantic Director Jennifer Horvath traveled from the Louisville, Kentucky to address the School Board and explain Cognia’s rigorous accreditation process. Ms. Horvath praised Penn High School for teacher and administration collaboration, along with the school’s climate and culture. Cognia student surveys showed that students feel safe, valued, and supported by their teachers. Click here to hear Ms. Horvath’s comments.

Associate Principal Fry presented on AP and dual credit enrollment and the Early College Academy. Currently at 1,816 students out of Penn’s @3,500 total students are taking AP courses; and 678 students of the Class of 2024 are enrolled in dual credit classes.

For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, Penn High School ranked FIRST in the state with the highest number of students earning ICC (Indiana College Core) or AGS (Associate of General Studies) certificates earned! This was just one of the reasons why the IDOE recognized Penn with Excellence in College Readiness Award along with a $250,000 grant!

Debate Team teacher and coach Mr. Jeremy Starkweather, sporting a new haircut thanks to his team’s State Championship win, presented his student winners.

Along with the Debate Team, the other State Championship team, Spell Bowl, was also recognized. Both the Girls and Boys Swim/Dive teams were also recognized fresh off IHSAA State Championships returning as State Runners-Up. For the first time in Penn’s history, both teams were State Runners-Up in the same year! Lily Christianson is the State Champion in 50-Freestyle, 100-Freestyle, and was a member of the 200-Freestyle Relay Team with Kaia Podlin, Alayna Riggins, and Molly Barnes.

The Board thanked retiring Hall of Fame Head Football Coach Cory Yeoman for his 40 years of service to Penn High School, and also recognized the Yeoman family in attendance.

Penn Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates named the 2024 National Coach of the Year by the National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA) was also honored.

Many more student and staff accomplishments along with supporting data were shared with the Board. Click here to see Principal Galiher’s full Board Presentation.

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Penn’s school musical this year is “The Music Man.”

You won’t want to miss Penn’s talented student performers as they act out the play that follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef!

This year’s musical also includes the talents of a few P-H-M elementary and middle school students:

• Mary Cortes, 5th grade, Prairie Vista Elementary School
• Maxwell MacMillan, 5th grade, Mary Frank Elementary School
• Anniston Steele, 7th grade, Grissom Middle School
• Ezra Carrico, Katherine Hawkins, Benjamin Robertson and Noah Rohde, all in 8th grade, Schmucker Middle School

Click here to see the playbill.

This isn’t the first year Penn’s musicals have included students from younger grades. In 2016, younger students also participated in “Mary Poppins.” But this is the first year in recent memory to have this many!

Visit bit.ly/PennMusicMan to purchase tickets.

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The National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA) named Penn Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates the 2024 National Coach of the Year!

Last February Coach Cates was named the 2023 Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year. In 2020, he became the State Director of NHSSCA for Indiana. In January 2022, Penn’s Strength and Conditioning program led by Coach Cates was awarded with a NHSSCA Program of Excellence School designation!

Coach Cates’ enthusiasm and dedication working with student-athletes has made him one of the most popular people at Penn High School. Coach Cates builds lasting relationships with students bringing out the best in them. He is a great motivator, making videos in 2021 to help students cope with the pandemic. Click to watch some of his videos on PHM’s TikTok account. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, he was one of the teachers who spoke at the Freshman Class Meeting welcoming 9th graders to Penn. He got the biggest round of applause, even from the freshmen! Click to see the pictures.

Cates was chosen from four finalists. The award is given each year to a high school Strength Coach based on their achievements and contributions to their school community. Click here for more information on the award.

Coach Cates will be honored this summer at the national conference in Dallas as NHSSCA’s 2024 National Coach of the Year!