Penn High School’s Samantha Buckwheat earned a 2024 National Gold Key Award in the Scholastic Art and Writing contest.

Buckwheat, Class of 2024, will have her photography artwork, “Brothers”, on display in New York City.

Buckwheat’s Photograpy instructor is Betsy Dunham.

On July 22^nd, the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees approved the $10,000 gift from School Superintendent Dr. and Mrs. Thacker to the P-H-M Education Foundation Naming Rights Campaign to name the field at Penn High School’s Jordan Automotive Baseball Stadium as the Greg Dikos Field.

This makes the fifth donation Dr. and Mrs. Thacker have made as part of the Naming Rights Campaign, recognizing the contributions P-H-M employees have made to the community:

1. Chris Geesman Kingsmen Athletic Center (formerly the Kingsmen Athletic Center), $25,000 donated in December 2021 ($5,000 per year over five years, for an overall period of 12 years)
2. Al Rhodes Kingsmen Court, $10,000 donated in October 2023 (one lump sum)
3. Arthur M. Klinger Planetarium (formerly the  P-H-M DVT & Planetarium), $10,000 donated in January 2024
4. Yeoman Family Plaza, $10,000 donated in March 2024 
5. Greg Dikos Field, $10,000 donated in August 2024

Dr. Thacker has been superintendent of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation since 2006 and has supported the Education Foundation wholeheartedly. Over the course of 18 years, Dr. and Mrs. Thacker have donated $232,500 to the P-H-M Education Foundation, including this most recent donation of the naming rights. Most of this money has either been unrestricted donations or used as matching funds for fundraising initiatives.

Coach Dikos owns an 839-298 record in 37 seasons.

Penn has won six State Championships during Dikos’ tenure as head coach: 1994, 1998, 2001, 2015, 2022 and 2023. Coach Dikos has also led Penn to seven Semi-State Championships, 13 Regional Championships, 21 Sectional Championships and 22 Northern Indiana Conference Championships.

A graduate of Swartz Creek High School (Mich.) and Ball State University, Coach Dikos was selected by the Atlanta Braves as a third baseman in the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft in the 31st round. Coach Dikos was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

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.

Penn alum Markus Burton, 2023 Indiana Mr. Basketball and a standout guard at Notre Dame, returned home to inspire the next wave of basketball talent.

At his recent camp, Burton shifted from player to mentor, guiding young athletes not only in basketball techniques, but also in the values that shaped his own career—teamwork, discipline, and perseverance.

A legend in Saint Joseph County, Burton set records by averaging 30.3 points per game during his high school years. Now, he’s channeling that experience into helping others.

The camp was a tremendous success and Markus is eager to host more in the future, continuing his mission to foster the next generation of basketball stars.

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With the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, P-H-M is switching to ParentSquare, a new unified, user-friendly, communications platform designed with parents and guardians in mind. CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED.

ParentSquare provides a centralized location for families to receive communications from school principals, teachers, coaches, and front office staff on all their students, in all schools, in all classrooms! CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED. 

Parents/guardians receive alerts, updates, and posts on:

• important notifications, such as school closings and delays
• attendance
• principal & teacher newsletters
• school & classroom calendar of events
• volunteer & RSVP for events
• fill out permission slips & other forms
• … ALL IN ONE LOCATION!

Families chose their preferred mode of communication for non-urgent notifications– app, text, email, phone. Parents/guardians can also chose to have all communications automatically translated to their preferred first language.

As we approach the first day of school (Wednesday, August 21), principals and teachers will be using ParentSquare to share important “Back to School” information. Parents and guardians are asked to activate their accounts by Monday, August 12, 2024.

PLEASE NOTE: If your child is transitioning to a new building from last school year, the information will be updated later this summer. You are still able to register for ParentSquare.

To activate parent/guardian accounts, parents need to check their email for the welcome and introductory email.

The email was sent between Thursday, July 11 and Friday, July 12, 2024 with the subject line: “Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. is now using ParentSquare.” 

The sender of the email will appear as “Penn-Harris-Madison via ParentSquare” with a donotreply @parentsquare.com email address, similar to this … donotreply+01d8d49e-b6f1-47f3-ac23-d45abf67b233@parentsquare.com

Class of 2024 Penn High School graduates Bella Bauer & Gabby Mammolenti both took the top spots as Miss Teen Indiana and 1st Runner Up in last night’s Miss Indiana Organization pageant competition, winning in college scholarships.

Bella Bauer is the winner of the 2024 Miss Indiana Teen pageant and is a person with epilepsy. She uses her platform to advocate for seizure training in schools. In 2023, Bella gave a presentation to Board of School Trustees on Epilepsy for Epilepsy Awareness Month. Bella suffers from Epilepsy having her first episode in 5^th grade. She now hopes to educate as many students, teachers, and members of the public on Epilepsy and what to do when someone has a seizure. She’s written a book “The ABC’s on Epilepsy.” Bella was also an award winning member of Penn’s Dance team.

Bella has been featured in the South Bend Tribune.

Congratulations to Gabby Mammolenti on earning the the distinction of 1st runner up!

Before Penn’s Commencement on June 3, 13 seniors were recognized as a part of Elkhart Area Career Center’s Student Recognition Night, held May 14.

These are the awards and scholarships the students won:

• Grayce Spadafore: Teachers Choice Award – Cosmetology 
• Madison Trosper: Teachers Choice Award – Culinary Arts, Culinary/Baking Scholarship
• Emma Heintzelman: Teachers Choice Award – Exercise Science
• Arianna Holiday – Turner Scholarship Winner – Criminal Justice

	Dylan Brown: Teachers Choice Award – Automotive Service Technology
	Christian Nelson: Teachers Choice Award – CNC Machining
	Joshua Morrow: Teachers Choice Award – Diesel Services Technology
	Joshua Morrow (2nd from right): Gateway Mile Autofest Toolbox and Tool Scholarship Award – Diesel Service Technology Alex Valentiny (far right): Gateway Mile Autofest Toolbox and Tool Scholarship Award – Motorsports
	Gracie Goss (far right): SillsUSA State Gold Winner – Commercial Photography
	Reid Ohlson (far right): Future Farmers of America (FFA) State Finalist – Small Engines
	Isabel Botham (far right): Turner Scholarship Winner – Computer Networking

Congratulations to the Night School Class of 2024!

Graduates had the opportunity to cross the stage during commencement exercises in front of their family and friends on Thursday, June 6th, 2024. 

The Night School program provides coursework for adults toward completion of a high school diploma, not a GED, regardless of residency.

Please view the full photo gallery below!

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After months of planning, on Sunday, May 19 and Monday, May 20, Penn High School teachers Mr. Steven Sanders (Earth and Space Science, Environmental Science) and Mrs. Amy Tiebout (Project Lead the Way Biomed and AP Biology) drove 27 students to Suttons Bay, Michigan for a once in a lifetime science experience. Click to see the photo gallery below.

Through partnership with the Inland Seas Education Association, students were able to participate in a four-hour long science sailboat voyage on Suttons Bay using professional limnology equipment along with analyzing data previously collected. While on the sailboat, groups of students worked with professionals to focus on specific research topics while gaining skills in science sampling procedures. After all of the sampling and data collection, students shared their newly acquired knowledge with other groups to help reinforce their new knowledge to make this a very educational experience. 

In addition to the “Schoolship” experience, students were able to visit Harbor Bay Beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Sunday evening to enjoy sunset in nature and explore the town of Suttons Bay on Monday morning. The work of Mr. Sanders and Mrs.Tiebout made this trip much more accessible and affordable for students and their families. Mr. Sanders spent a week of his summer during 2023 getting professional development from Inland Seas that reduced the cost to families of the program by $825 and the cost of accommodations by $840. He also wrote a PTO grant to help cover miscellaneous expenses on the trip by $500. Therefore, families were only responsible for $10 of this trip because of all Mr. Sanders did in preparation. 

Students left this experience with a greater appreciation for science as a force for good in the world by directly connecting the science concepts from the classroom and research on the boat with the importance of stewardship for our shared environmental resources. All of this helps students better understand what it means to “Take Care of this Place.”

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On Monday, June 3, 2024, Penn High School held our 65th Commencement. The ceremony was held at the University of Notre Dame. The Class of 2024 is made up of approximately 854 students. It was a wonderful time to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of ALL of our graduates! Click here to see the photo gallery below with photos that can be downloaded for FREE!

The full ceremony was livestreamed and has been archived on the Penn Harris Madison YouTube channel. You can watch it below. This is the direct link: https://youtube.com/live/5gWg5mbUuqc

Click here to download a copy of the Commencement Program.

Click to see video and pictures of some of the Senior Parades that took place Thursday, May 30th and Friday, May 31st.

Highlights from the Class 0f 2024 include:

• nearly $16 million in scholarships
• 442 earned Academic Honors diplomas
• 325 earned High Honors diplomas
• 72 earned Technical Honors diplomas
• 119 Early College Academy students
  • 113 earned a credential through Ivy Tech Community College
  • 98 earned an Associate’s Degree from Ivy Tech 
• 21 Valedictorians
• 4 Salutatorians

Click here for more information about the Class of 2024.

The official photos of every graduate were taken by InterState Photography and are available for purchase. Please refer to the Senior Parent Communications for the link and password.

The photos in this photo gallery are unofficial candid photos were taken by Penn-Harris-Madison School Communications Department staff. We have uploaded these candid photos to the photo gallery below. To download  these high-resolution jpg files for FREE from the photo gallery below, just simply right click and select “Save image as” and save it to your desktop or device.

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