Due to inclement weather, the Penn varsity and junior varsity girls basketball games against New Prairie, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, have been postponed.

The games have been rescheduled to Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, at Penn. The junior varsity game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET, and the varsity game will follow.

Also, due to inclement weather, the Penn freshmen girls basketball game against South Bend St. Joseph, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, has been postponed. No make-up date for the game has been rescheduled as of yet.

Parents of Penn sophomores, new this year, 10th graders will be required to take ISTEP! The Indiana Department of Education has released the testing windows for ISTEP+ for the 2015-2016 school year. ISTEP will begin in late February. In most cases, part 1 of ISTEP will be done with paper/pencil and Part 2 will be done online.

New this year:  In preparation for 2016 ISTEP+, the IDOE has now made ISTEP+ “Experience” available through Pearson, allowing students and parents to experience various technology-enhanced item types that will appear on the ISTEP+ Part 2 assessment as often as they like from home, at school, or on mobile devices. “Experience” is presented via the Pearson online platform (TestNav 8) that will be used for ISTEP+ online testing, as well as IREAD-3 online testing. P-H-M families can access ISTEP+ “Experience” through the P-H-M District website, as well as through the link provided on the RESOURCES menu of every school website.

Indiana Statewide Testing of Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+ ) Grades 3-8, and 10

                                                                      Window Begins                                         Window Ends

ISTEP+ Part 1 – paper/pencil                        February 29, 2016                                       March 11, 2016
(Applied Skills)

ISTEP+ Part 2 – online                                  April 18, 2016                                               May 6, 2016
(Multiple-choice & Technology-enhanced items)

For more information on the state assessment testing windows, please visit the Indiana Department of Education website, www.doe.in.gov/assessment.

Penn High School’s Robotics Team 135 is awaiting the worldwide release of the  FIRST Robotics FRC Game Challenge on Saturday, January 9. The event, which is open to the public, will start at 10 a.m. ET. It will be held in Penn’s Large Group Instruction Room A (enter through rear Door J).

After the game release, Penn Robotics Team 135 begins its journey to design and build this year's FRC Competition Robot.  This is the 19th season for Penn Robotics in the FIRST Competition. 

Last year, Team 135 was honored with the highest award in the state, The Indiana State Chairman's Award, and also won the Kokomo District Tournament. 

Penn Robotics Team 135 was in the local news this past year for assisting with the Hand of Grace project, helping build a prosthetic arm for a local third-grade student.  For more information about the organization, please visit our website: www.team135.org.

More than 75,000 students from around the world will watch the live-feed from FIRST® Robotics' headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, to find out the goal of this season's competition. Each year a new game is introduced, and teams have six weeks to design and build a robot, which will compete at local, regional and national events.

At Saturday’s kickoff, teams will be shown the game and challenge details for the first time, and will receive a Kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, control system components, construction materials, and a mix of additional automation components.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that challenges high- school students – working alongside professional Mentors – to construct a robot of their own, and compete in the ultimate Sport for the Mind™ that measures the effectiveness of each robot, the power of teamwork and collaboration, and each team's display of Gracious Professionalism ®.

Through their participation, students experience the excitement of science, engineering, technology, and innovation; build well-rounded life capabilities such as self-confidence, communication, and leadership; and qualify for over $25 million in college scholarships.

About FIRST®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people.

Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $25 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST® LEGO® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. for Grades K-3. 

Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to http://www.firstinspires.org/.

About IndianaFIRST

IndianaFIRST is an organization dedicated to growing FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics programs in the state of Indiana. FIRST is a multinational non-profit organization that aspires to transform our culture, making science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today. Founded in the fall of 2001 as the Indiana-based affiliate of FIRST, IndianaFIRST brings FIRST programming to students in grades K-12, teaching them hands-on skills in engineering, science, and technology that they can relate back to their class work. Kids compete against other kids in local, state, and regional competitions in what is frequently called "The Super Bowl of Smarts."

TEASER VIDEO for the competition: https://youtu.be/FVLdJdoKK2E

MORE DETAILS: http://www.usfirst.org/frc2016

LIVE VIDEO FEED:

Comcast NBCUniversal broadcast and webcast. Access the webcast

via http://comca.st/frc2016

Penn High School Student Talent Show will be Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. in Penn’s Center for Performing Arts.

Cost to attend the talent show is $5 at the box office the night of the show.

There will be 11 acts, ranging from a Barbershop quarter, to belly dancing.

The talent shows have showcased the diversity and creativity of Penn’s students.

“The range of acts we've seen in the past is extensive, from a beat-box supported yo-yoist, to a student designed costume/choreographed dance skit, to lip-sync, to canned music/live singing, to student composed/written solo and power trio acts,” Coffee said. “We've seen a scene from the competition play headed to the State Thespian Fest, hooping, hula, duets, self-written comedy acts, SNL interpretations, Python interpretations, comedic monologues, you name it. 

“We have extremely talented, unique students who have gifts to share, and we love to see the student who seems pretty insulated in the classroom take the kind of risk you see at the Talent Show.”

Thanks to one industrious engineering Penn High School student, South Bend’s HOPE Ministries received $1,400!

As a member of Everence, Kaitlin “Kait” Kelsey participated in the Everence Week of Generosity to secure the valuable donation for HOPE.

On Thursday (Dec. 17) morning, Kait presented Jessie Klein, Director of Community Relations for HOPE Ministries, with the check. Klein praised the all-female Intro to Engineering Design for their passion, compassion and ingenuity.

The sophomore STEM Academy student earned the donation by participating in Canstruction (the October food drive event held at University Park Mall which also benefited HOPE Ministries). Kait and her fellow all-female engineering classmates designed and built a “Rosie the Riveter” sculpture for the canned food drive/engineering event. The team chose Rosie the Riveter because they it illustrated their drive, initiative and power as young women. Kait and her team collected approximately 3,500 cans of corn, beans, soups and tuna to create Rosie the Riveter earning them the “Voters’ Choice” award and “Best Meal” award.

Each year, Everence offices across the country organize generosity events in order to give back to communities through the organizations that members care about. The funds come from a combination of the Everence corporate tithe, money Everence would otherwise pay in taxes and individual contributions.

The Michiana Everence Fraternal Chapter, a board of Everence members, organizes the Week of Generosity, which each year focuses on different areas within the eight-county region. This year, the board focused on St. Joseph County, Indiana, and Everence members volunteered at Transformation Ministries, Hope Ministries, Ten Thousand Villages, St. Joseph County Bridges out of Poverty, Southfield Villages, St. Joseph Habitat for Humanity and Food Bank of Northern Indiana.

About Everence
Everence helps individuals, organizations and congregations integrate finances with faith through a national team of advisors and representatives. Everence offers banking, insurance and financial services with community benefits and stewardship education. Everence is a ministry of Mennonite Church USA and other churches. To learn more, visit www.everence.com.

About HOPE Ministries
Hope Ministries is more than just a homeless shelter. Its vision, mission and philosophy is to heal the whole person, not just treat the symptoms. So while providing basic material needs to residents, such as shelter, food and clothing; the faith-based center also provides counseling services for families, job readiness, addiction recovery and an adult education program. To learn more about HOPE Ministries, visit www.hopesb.org. 

In an effort to get more female students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics), Penn’s STEM Academy held its WIT (Women in Technology) Day on Tuesday, Dec. 8.  During the 4-hour open house structured event, P-H-M female eighth grade students from the District’s three middle schools (Discovery, Grissom and Schmucker) and current Penn freshmen girls were invited to learn more about Penn’s STEM programs. Browse the pictures below.

Students visited classrooms, participated in science demonstrations and experiments, visited the robotics lab, learned more about STEM careers and how classes at Penn could help them prepare.  Students also heard from current Penn female students enrolled in the STEM Academy, which allowed the 8^th and 9^th graders to talk to them about their own rewarding STEM experiences.

Penn’s unique Academy structure allows students to pursue fields of interest in supportive learning environments.

Leaps, pirouettes and flowing transitions will converge to create a symphony of motion on the Penn High School Center for the Performing Arts stage in the Student Choreography Showcase on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m.

Tickets for the Student Choreography Showcase are $5 and are available online at www.ticketracker.com or one hour before the show at the ticket office.

According to Penn dance instructor Jenn Wolfe, Student Choreography Showcase displays the talents of the Dance Choreography III/IV and Advanced Dance I/II dancers. The students choreographed their own pieces. There are 21 pieces, and each piece is between two and three minutes.  

Now in its eighth year, the Student Choreography Showcase evolved from the Advanced Dance Class. Wolfe created the event originally for her class, but was inspired to make it a public event.

“I had several parents comment on how they would love to see what the students created, and I wanted the students to be able to share what they had been working so hard on,” Wolfe said. “With the development of this new class, I was able to push the students further into the role of the choreographer and create a real-world experience.”

Penn student Kimber Powers loves the challenge of creating a dance.

“When you’re put into the project of having to create your own dance, it gives you the teacher’s perspective,” Powers said. “It’s not, “I need to learn this,” it’s “I need to do this to teach someone else.” You have to change the way you’re looking at things. This is preparing you to develop your mindset of not only seeing it as a student, but as a teacher, how to choreograph and all of the different dance elements that come into play.

“What I love about the Dance Showcase is it’s an opportunity to show the community all of the work and progress we’ve been doing in our Dance Class,” Powers said. “It’s all hard work. We all have to learn technique. We all have to learn the new steps to four or five different dances. It’s a way for us to have a rewarding, fun final, and offer a performance to the community and Penn High School.”

Wolfe said that the event allows students to step into the role of a dancer and a choreographer. The event is the final exam for the students.

“It is a way for them to demonstrate the mastery of the dance standards we have worked on all first semester,” Wolfe said. “They have worked hard for the last month on all performance aspects such as choosing and editing music, finding costumes and creating a dance of their own to perform for an audience.   

“One unique part of this performance is that is student-created and student-run,” Wolfe said. “I have only given guidance and typed what they told me to type into the program and cue sheet. 

“Another unique aspect is seeing the difference in the choreography created within the same style.  Not all of the dancers have a strong dance background yet they choreograph like they have danced forever.  I love seeing what the students can create and how they can put movements together.”

This year’s performances will include Tap, Modern, Contemporary, Jazz and Hip-hop dance.

Powers loves that students take ownership of the project, and hone their skills of creativity and collaboration.

“You have to work together to put in all of the motion, put in all of the different ideas, combine all of the different styles,” Powers said. “It’s your dance. You own your performance. It’s all of the skills you’ve learned in the past three or four years being put on display.”

Powers said that the Student Choreography Showcase is one of many reasons that make Penn’s Fine Arts Academy one of the best in the state. She said she appreciates that the Penn community supports the Arts as part of the curriculum at Penn.

“It’s a shame that there are schools that don’t have the Arts as part of the curriculum,” Powers said. “The Arts are especially important for every student to take a part in. It’s a way to express yourself that you can’t in any other class. You may excel in Engolish, you may excel in Science, you may excel in Math … however, the Arts are a way to express yourself and say, ‘Hey, this is all of the hard work I’ve done. This is truly who I am.’

“It’s a way to express feelings and emotions that you can’t do in a classroom. It’s a chance to get out of the classroom normal setting and say, “This is who I am. This is me. Let’s take a stand and show people that.”

Today (Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015) 10 teams of Penn students (47 students in all) competed in the 5th annual Whirlpool Innovation Challenge at the World Headquarters in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

 

The annual Whirlpool Innovation Challenge provides Penn STEM students with real world problem solving learning opportunities. Whirlpool provides the students with several challenges of which to choose from and then develop a product based on the chellange. This year’s theme centered on water filtration.

At the beginning of the semester, STEM students decide to participate in the Whirlpool Innovation Challenge or another type of problem based learning project. For months, the teams have worked on their concepts. Two weeks ago all the teams competed for the opportunity to be among the top 10 finalists teams that would make their pitch before Whirlpool Executives. Today was the culmination of months of work.

At today’s final pitch, all 10 teams gave a short time presentation and then answered questions from the Whirlpool panelists. Then during an “exposition”-type fair, students answered questions about their projects from Whirlpool employees. Anyone was able to vote. Winners were chosen from the votes along with input from teachers and the Whirlpool executive judges.

The 2^nd place team, “Team R” was made up of students from Mr. Jim Langfeldt’s class: Katie Lo, Jack Neubauer, Zach Simon and two other students. Their challenge was “Elevating Water.”

“Team W” members won 3^rd Place, also from Mr. Langfeldt’s class, were Cassidee Centilli, Sydney Cole, Nathan Doshi, Grant Harrington and Justin Ralston. They chose the “Traveler Edition Water Filtering Solution” as their team challenge.

Mr. Sauer’s “Team C,” made up of Alex Dobbins, Andrew Fair, Andrew Fuller, Logan McGuire and Emmanuel Smith won Best Presentation and Employee Choice Awards for their idea for the “EveryDrop Auto-filling Pitcher” challenge.

All teams walked away with a certificate from Whirlpool and prizes like EveryDrop gortex jackets, water bottles, reusable hot/cold grocery bags, cell phone chargers and some pretty cool sunglasses! But more importantly the great opportunity to participate in a real-world business competition.