Penn literary magazine Spectrum wins highest honor from NCTE
The Penn High School student literary magazine, Spectrum, has won the highest honor for recognizing excellence in Art and Literary magazines from the National Council of Teachers of English.
Spectrum is published under the direction of Penn instructor Caelea Armstrong.
Editors of the 2022-2023 Spectrum Literary Magazine were Valentina Gianesi (graduated), Monique Caraman (graduated), Lauren Turnquist, Natalie Reed and Michael Mireles.
“Spectrum has been a literary publication at Penn High School since at least the 1988-89 school year,” Armstrong said. “The mission of Spectrum is to create an outlet for student expression – written, art, and multimedia.
“Over the years, Spectrum has evolved and is now involved in creating monthly newsletters known as “The Bathroom Bulletin,” the People of Penn displays in the stairwells, and events like Reality Cafe,” Armstrong said. “Our main focus is the Spectrum Magazine, and I could not be more proud of our students on the Spectrum staff.”
This year, schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 375 student magazines. Magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education were welcomed for the 2023 contest. A total of 108 magazines were awarded the contest’s highest distinction, REALM First Class.
The REALM program publicly recognizes excellent literary magazines produced by students with the support of their teachers. REALM is designed to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines that celebrate the art and craft of writing. Schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, US territories, Canada, and American schools abroad are eligible to nominate magazines.
For more information about the REALM Program, please visit: https://ncte.org/awards/program-to-
recognize-in-student-literary-magazines/.
2-Hour Delay Schedule during Final Exams
Click the PDF for the 2-hour delay schedules during Final Exams:
Penn Pep Band performs at Notre Dame Men’s Basketball game
Penn High School’s Pep Band, under the direction of D.J. Landoll, performed at the Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Game on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. The Fighting Irish played against North Carolina State.
“Being invited to perform was a reflection of the trust that Notre Dame has in the Penn music program and the P-H-M brand,” Landoll said. “It seems that we have a reputation that inspired confidence in the event organizers, who were gracious professionals and helped create a good experience for our kids.
“We’re proud of our product and enjoyed getting to show it to a new audience, but I imagine that the students were excited primarily because it was another good reason to be with their friends making fun music – everything else is secondary,” Landoll said. “We honestly love playing together and just being together.”
The Notre Dame Men’s Basketball Team features Penn graduate Markus Burton, who was named Indiana Mr. Basketball last season.
Penn Debate places first at Ben Davis
By LANGSTON ARTRIP
The Penn Debate Team won the Team Sweepstakes at the Ben Davis Debate Tournament. Penn Debate has won the last five consecutive meets they have competed in.
This team’s success is due to the immense amount of work that everyone puts into this team and how passionate they are about the Penn Debate Team. This is assisted by the middle school program that Coach Jeremy Starkweather and the debate team’s captains have put time and energy into to make sure that they are ready to compete at the high school level. The Penn Debate Team expects only excellence and success in its endeavors and they have achieved and overshot many of their expected goals.
These are the top individual awards.
- 1st Place Lincoln Douglas- Akul Bhambhani
- 2nd Place Lincoln Douglas- Sarah Rooney
- 2nd Place Policy- Kevin Wu & Rebeca Ramirez
- 3rd Place Policy- Leena Khan & Sarah Ahmed
- 3rd Place Public Forum- Alina Luck & Jaanavi Kaushik
German Club Gingerbread Houses
Penn High School’s German Club got into the Winter festivities by creating Gingerbread Houses at a recent meeting.
A Photo Gallery is posted below.
Dance Choreography Showcase set for Wednesday, Dec. 20
The Dance Choreography Showcase is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, at the Penn High School Center for Performing Arts.
Click here for ticket information.
Two Penn Seniors named 2024 Lilly Scholars
grants from Lilly Endowment to Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI).
Penn Debate earns honors at Chesterton
The Penn Debate Team won the Team Sweepstakes at the Chesterton Debate Tournament. Penn Debate has won the last four consecutive meets that they have competed in.
Penn Debate coach Jeremy Starkweather credited the team’s success to Leadership and the Middle School Debate Program.
“My team captains have shown some of my all-time best leadership skills, and have put in countless hours preparing not just for their performances, but also for our rookies and veteran members alike,” Starkweather said.
In the last two years, Penn Debate has invested in the middle schoolers, hosting an all-PHM District Tournament.
“With the preparations happening at the middle-school level, our team is starting their careers ahead of the game compared to some of the other teams throughout the state,” Starkweather said.
Penn’s top individual awards at Chesterton:
- 1st place Public Forum: Noah Schafer and Bohdan Kolomiiets
- 1st place Lincoln Douglas: Akul Bhambani
- 2nd place Lincoln Douglas: Sarah Rooney
- 2nd place World Schools: Noah Shafer, Stanley Liew, and Danielle Esgeuerra
- 2nd place Novice Policy: Danielle Cilliberti and Addison Schlundt
- 1st place Novice Congress: Selin Biligicer
- 2nd place Novice Congress: Langston Artrip
In the Lincoln Douglas Category, both Akul Bhambani and Sarah Rooney were undefeated. Their match was very close and came down to a tiebreaker round in which Akul Bhambani persevered to the end.
Four Penn students named IASP Rising Stars
Penn High School Principal Dr. Sean Galiher announced that Matthew Deahl, Jaanavi Kaushik, Stanley Liew and Megan Zhang have been named Rising Stars for the Class of 2025 by the Indiana Association of School Principals.
The Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP) is proud to present the Rising Stars of Indiana Class of 2025. Each Indiana high school was invited to recognize up to four students currently in the 11th grade, based on their academic achievement. The Class of 2025 is surely promised success with these students.
Please join Penn and the IASP in congratulating these students on all they have already achieved, as well as offering support and encouragement as they continue their accomplishments and expand their knowledge, growth and leadership skills well into the future.
Penn Receives 12 PHM Education Foundation Grants
The P-H-M Education Foundation has wrapped up the grant announcements for the 2023-2024 school year; and it’s been a big year with tons of recipients. Walt Disney was the recipient of 12 grants for the combined total of $12,123.04!!!
English teacher Caelea Armstrong partnered with student Akash Singh to apply for $1,000 to purchase basic self-care and hygiene products for students. The money will be used to buy soap, hair products, deodorant, etc., as well as storage containers and distribution bags for students in need. Printed awareness materials, such as posters and other informational materials, will also be paid for out of the funds.
Robotics and Manufacturing teachers Kyle Marsh and Scott Shelhart applied for and received $3,000 for the “Kingsmen Karting through STEM project. Students collaborate with each other to design, manufacture, fabricate, test and evaluate two go-karts. The initiative encourages collaboration and further develop students’ understanding of physics, math and technology.
Penn Art Gallery Curator Jessica Marsh was awarded $1,000 to purchase the necessary materials to start a jewelry program at the high school. Students will be encouraged to submit to Scholastic Arts and Writing competitions while learning a real applicable life skill (related to/uses welding, manufacturing, robotics and other disciplines.)
Early College Biology teacher Toni Boger-May received $1,000 to use in her Integrated Chemistry and Physics classes. Students are required to design, build and refine a device that converts one form of energy into another form of energy. Students will construct a simple AC generator using Neodymium batteries and magnets as well as build dye-sensitized solar cells to harvest sunlight into electricity.
The National Honor Society teacher sponsors Karen Tagliaferri and Lana Ealdama worked with student David Son to write a grant for $610 to purchase five plastic recycling bins for classrooms. NHS plans to increase student awareness of recycling materials in the school. The Foundation is encouraging NHS to look into expanding it to a school-wide recycling program partnering with other clubs/local agencies as necessary.
John Gensic and Amanda Bates were awarded $2,770.70 to purchase MyGardyn 3.0 to cultivate edible plants within Penn to support students facing food insecurity. The funds will also be used to provide hands-on learning experiences for Agriculture Students, Plant Club, Key Club, Environmental Awareness Club and Biology students who will all participate in the growing and harvesting of plants.
American Sign Language teacher Delicia Huckleberry was awarded $1,577 to buy a second projector for ASL room which will allow student presenters to reference the screen on the other side of the room when presenting. Unlike other presentations, students are not able to reference their presentation slides when doing ASL so the projector will support confidence In student presentations.
Penn also received five EZ Grants:
- $216.34 to purchase fishing equipment and supplies for Penn Fishing Club, “Luring Biodiversity”
- $200 to purchase mobile white boards for students in computer science classrooms
- $249 to purchase new music selections for use at Penn and in demonstrating to 4th and 5th grade students
- $250 to purchase t-shirts for Penn Counselors to wear at school and raise awareness about the Safe School Helpline and Suicide Prevention
- $250 to purchase small gifts, candy, and cards for Penn’s “Random Acts of Kindness Club.” The items will be distributed to students.
This cycle the Foundation Grants Committee awarded $42,819.63 in funding to 15 EZ grants and 20 traditional grants. Click here for the full list of funded grants.
PHMEF has moved to one grant cycle per school year, now moved to the Fall, to allow teachers and schools time to put their grant dollars to good use right away.
Executive Director Jennifer Turnblom traveled across the district to surprise various grant recipients with the good news of their funding amount. Grants awarded this year cover a wide array of innovative programs and activities from $10,000 to Grissom Middle School to purchase keyboards for the music room to milkweed plants for Madison Elementary so the school could attract monarch butterflies.
Click here to see the photo gallery on the District’s website of the check deliveries or click to follow PHMEF’s Facebook page.