Penn High School has once again been ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the nation's best high schools. Penn ranks 1st in the South Bend area, 14th in Indiana, and #1,225 in the national rankings (out of nearly 18,000 high schools nationwide). This puts Penn in the top 7% of the nation's best high schools for 2021!

Penn’s other points of distinction noted by the prestigious national magazine ranking, students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Penn High School is 45%. The total minority enrollment is 27%, and 20% of students are economically disadvantaged. And with the release of the Spring 2019 ISTEP (grade 10) results, Penn High School as 12th among Indiana’s public schools for combined ELA & Math scores in grade 10.

The rankings are based on the 2018-2019 school year, detailed school-specific information on enrollment, graduation rates, student body demographics, location, school type, and results of state assessments as well as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests. Click here to read more about the methodology.

Indiana high school students typically follow the Core 40 curriculum, which includes required classes in English Language Arts, math, Social Studies and Science, among others. Students who fulfill additional requirements can earn a diploma with academic or technical honors. Penn has a 97% graduation rate with more than 85% of students graduate with Academic Honors, High Honors,  or Technical Honors. 

Class of 2020 included these points of distinction:

• @820 graduates earned more than $9 million in scholarships
• 17 valedictorians and 3 salutatorians

• 12 students have named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, 11 were named Finalists

• 11 students were named Commended Scholars

• 5 students were nominated for Presidential Scholars

• Indiana Regional Academic All-Star, one of only 40 students across our state to be honored

• 3 students were awarded the Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County Eli Lilly Endowment Scholarship based on their high academic merits and test scores

The Academies at Penn High School provide the framework for student success. Through their work in each academy, students find relevant and meaningful coursework taught in a supportive environment where each student is known well by his teachers and peers. Through these “smaller learning communities,” students build relationships while engaged in relevant learning experiences.

Penn’s Early College Academy has received an endorsement as an Early College High School by The Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning. As an endorsed Early College High School by the CELL, Penn’s Early College Academy is regarded as an exemplar for other high schools across Indiana implementing an Early College program.

Penn is a Four Star School earning the Project Lead the Way Distinguished School distinction in 2017-18 (for the 2016-17 school year), and the STEM Academy has been certified as a Full STEM Certified Program by the Indiana Department of Education. 

Click to see the full list of Indiana High Schools as ranked by US News & World Report in 2021. 

The Penn High School Boys Lacrosse Team competed against Kettle Moraine of Wisconsin on Sunday, April 18, 2021.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School Art students, guided by the instruction of Beth Loth, participated in a mask competition.

Students created masks in Animal, Art, Food, Most Original, Science Fiction and Sports categories.

Sophie Simonetti won the grand prize, and Sallie Kirkpatrick won the major first-place award.

A Photo Gallery of the winners and a sampling of some student work is posted below.

Students of Penn High School English 9 teachers Alan Psalidas and Lindsey Soard participated in a gallery walk in the IMC.

The poetry projects were centered around “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Romeo and Juliet”.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School’s Team 135 Robotics Team will be competing for the FIRST Robotics State Championship on Saturday, April 17, 2021. Teams are competing through virtual presentations this year.

The Kingsmen qualified for State by earning the coveted Chairman’s Award in District competition.

The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST; it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders. 
 

On May 13th, FIRST Robotics will be announcing the Indiana State Chairman’s, Award Winner. The state winner will represent Indiana for the FIRST World Championship Chairman’s Award.  The winner will be inducted into the FIRST Hall of Fame, and they automatically qualify to attend the World Championship each year.

Penn Robotics is one of four teams to qualify for the Indiana Championships. Westside Boiler Invasion, Maverick Boiler Robots and Sham-Rock-Botics join Penn in Indiana’s Final Four.

Penn High School’s JV1 Winter Guard placed third in the state  at the Indiana High School Color Guard Association State Finals competition circuit. 

The State Finals were held at Franklin Central High School on Saturday, March 27, 2021.

Penn High School Fine Arts Academy Leader Glenn Northern noted that Penn’s JV1 Team competed against many of the top groups from other schools, which made their third-place showing an outstanding accomplishment.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced the Penn student Evan Li has been named a 2021 Indiana Academic All-Star by the Indiana Association of School Principals.

Now in its 35th year, forty high school seniors from throughout Indiana have been named 2021 Indiana Academic All-Stars, a program of the Indiana Association of School Principals (IASP). In addition, 50 other students were recognized as Academic All-Star Regional Honorees. The students were selected from a field of 270 outstanding nominees from the state’s private and public accredited schools.

Academic All-Star distinction recognizes seniors who excel in the classroom first and foremost, but who also are actively involved in their schools and communities, and take on leadership roles in those activities. The program is produced by the Indiana Association of School Principals, with support provided by DePauw University, Indiana University Bloomington, and Purdue University, along with corporate partner Herff Jones.

Student awards will be presented in May by university partners and the Indiana Association of School Principals. Herff Jones provides the plaques awarded to the 40 Indiana Academic All-Stars and their Influential Educators.

The IASP Indiana Academic All-Stars program salutes academic excellence in the same manner that student athletes traditionally are honored. By providing a showcase for academically talented seniors, the sponsoring organizations hope to accomplish the following objectives:

• Give academic achievement the prestige it deserves;
• Motivate students to recognize the value of academic excellence;
• Provide students with an incentive for academic achievement, and
• Promote a positive image of Indiana’s young people.

With the announcement that Tuesday, March 30, 2021 will be an eLearning day, the meal plan for March 30th is as follows:

High School

• When students leave school on Friday, March 26th, they will receive 2 days worth of meals. Those meals will cover Monday, March 29th and Tuesday March 30th.

• High School Menu

Meals for 100% Virtual Learners:

• Pick up meals at Door K at Penn High School
• Day & Time: Monday, March 29, 1-3 p.m.
• Students will receive a refrigerated box and a frozen bag with four (4) breakfasts and four (4) lunches since Friday, April 2nd is a recess day.

Additional Information

• Students do not need to be present for the parent or guardian to pick up meals.
• Student ID’s WILL NOT be required.

*Meals will not be provided on Recess Days.

Menus for all schools and virtual learners can be found here.

The information below was sent to P-H-M families on Friday, March 26, 2021.

Dear P-H-M Families,

In the District’s ongoing efforts to provide opportunities for P-H-M staff to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, we worked with Meijer to provide a vaccination clinic on March 8 for the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.

1,170 people were vaccinated, including staff from P-H-M and neighboring school districts, as well as some community members. This included over 700 P-H-M staff, representing about half of our entire workforce.

Meijer is returning next Monday, March 29, to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to staff and community members who were vaccinated at our clinic three weeks ago. 

As part of our weekly meeting with the St. Joseph County Department of Health, it was shared with us that we should expect 15-30% of P-H-M employees to experience mild to adverse effects after receiving the second shot.

We know that other area school districts had to call eLearning days after their staff members experienced some side effects following the second dose of the Moderna vaccine. If 15-30% of P-H-M staff members called in sick for Tuesday, March 30, we would not be able to transport, feed or teach our students.  

Based on this information, we are calling an eLearning Day for grades K-12th grade for next Tuesday, March 30. This day will be an eLearning day (just like what is called due to weather), NOT a virtual learning day. Teachers will not be teaching live on Tuesday. Head Start, PreK (Early Learning Academy and PennPALS), and Young Adult programs are all canceled for March 30. However, eLearning lessons will be provided for Early Learning Academy, PennPALS, and Young Adult programs.

The regular eLearning Day responsibilities of teachers will be in place next Tuesday. If a teacher is not sick, he/she will be online and responsive to student questions and to offer additional support and clarification as needed throughout the school day. If a teacher is taking a sick day on Tuesday, they will notify students and families through email and other normal modes of class communication and will not be available online that day. The classroom teachers will give specifics and assignment due dates of the eLearning lessons.

We know that this is a disruption and an inconvenience for our families at a time when we are trying to return all students to 100% in-person learning. Having nearly half of our workforce fully vaccinated through our Meijer clinic coupled with the state opening up vaccine eligibility to people 16 and older will ultimately help school districts return to near normal, pre-pandemic operations of educating students. We hope that parents, guardians, and families will also personally consider getting vaccinated to help our greater community, state and country. Thank you for being valued partners.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Penn Baseball Practice has started.

A Pennant Photo Gallery is posted below.