Penn High School STEM Academy students participated in the fifth annual Manufacturing Day in South Bend experience in October.

The event provided area high school students an opportunity to tour various local manufacturers and meet with current employees to discuss careers in the field.

“Manufacturing Day is a valuable experience for our students to see what manufacturing in the 21st Century looks like and opportunities in our area,” Penn High School Assistant Principal Josiah Parker said. “Students were able to visit the new SF Motors as they prepare to begin production of the new electric car. Students from Penn also visited South Bend Modern Molding, Allied Specialty Precision, B&B Molders, Ivy Tech, Daman Products, and Complexus Medical.”

The Penn Girls Basketball Team defeated LaPorte, 46-35, in its season opener on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School’s Spell Bowl Team, coached by Kate O’Brien, qualified for the 2018 State Championships by scoring an 82 at the Plymouth Regional on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Penn will compete for a State Championship on Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Loeb Playhouse on the University of Purdue campus. Competition is set to begin at 10:45 a.m.

Manaal Arif, Deena Baki, Yewon Oh, Abbie Hembrecht and JR Roach spelled perfectly for the Kingsmen in the Plymouth Regional. Oumayma Al-Shamary Erika Kalamaros, Matthew Zheng turned in near perfect efforts.

“I am so proud of all this team has accomplished!” O’Brien said. “They have dedicated hours and hours of practice time, and I am so excited with how it's paid for them!

“Spelling 82 out of 90 words is an impressive feat, and we beat our team goal of 80 (at state)!” O’Brien continued. “We are thrilled to be competing for state again, and are hopeful to bring home a State Title!”

When Indiana’s election takes place Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, Penn will serve as a polling center, as it has in years past. Polling hours are 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Penn school hours are 8:25 a.m. – 3:17 p.m.; you might want to avoid student arrival and departure times because of increased traffic congestion. 

Door L and Door M on Jefferson Road will be open to the public to access for voting. The first row of parking spaces in the staff lot between Doors L and M will be available for public parking. Voters must enter and exit through Doors L or M. Voters will not be allowed passage into the students’ area.

Other P-H-M schools that will serve as voting locations Election Day are Mary Frank Elementary School, Meadow’s Edge Elementary School, Prairie Vista Elementary School, Walt Disney Elementary School and Schmucker Middle School. Of course registered voters may only use the polling location that serves their precinct, based on home address.  Here is a link to the precincts maps and polling location information provided by St. Joseph County. 

The Penn Girls Volleyball Team battled No. 1 Yorktown in the Class 6-A Semi-state at Huntington North High School on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Yorktown defeated Penn, 27-25, 26-24, 25-16.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn’s Football Team defeated Warsaw, 16-7, in Class 6-A Sectional action on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher and Director of Counseling John Westra announced that 10 Penn students have been named National Merit Scholarship Commended Scholars.

Ammaar Basher, Ella Boardley, Michael Cha, Micah Focht, Noah Reynolds, Ioannis Samoilis, Carly Scopel, Jacqueline Sekan, Zachary Simon and Alvin Wang earned the elite academic distinction. The top three percent of students who took the PSAT nationwide earned Commended Scholars status.

“This accomplishment reflects the collective efforts of each student, their teachers and family,” Galiher said. “Our teachers take great pride in challenging our students and preparing them through rigorous and relevant coursework." 

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. 

Of the 1.6 million entrants in the 63rd annual competition, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math Test scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

Penn High School AP History Instructors Dominic Ball and Patrick Barrier conducted a “Rocktoberfest” learning activity that centered on the significant social, political, cultural and historical moments of the 1980’s. Students produced videos of 1980’s newscasts, performed popular songs from the period, and gave speeches on key political or social issues during the event, which was held on Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Thursday, Oct. 25.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School’s Drama Club will present “Boo Bash”  in the Studio Theater on Thursday, Oct. 25.

“Boo Bash” features two shows, and admission is FREE! Enter at Door C.

The first show, “Wren and Moose”, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25. It is a 25-minute children’s Halloween show written by Penn High School student Kenny Collymore-Williams. After the show, there will be Halloween candy and a short meet-and-greet with the characters.

The second show, “Death and All His Nonexistent Friends”, is a 30-minute young adult Halloween show, also written by Kenny Collymore-Williams. It is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., and features a few more jumps, bumps, and scares.

“Boo Bash” is a student-led project—student written, directed, acted, and teched.

“The Drama Club developed this event as a way to have a fun, free event for the community, but more importantly, the Drama Board members wanted a low pressure, fun way to engage incoming theatre students,” Drama Club Sponsor Crystal Ryan said. “With such a large program, it is a great way to get our “Intro to Theatre” involved in a performance situation. 

“The other unique thing about this event it is Penn’s first stage reading!” Ryan said. “Stage readings are how most professional playwrights get their works initially read before they go on to a huge, full production. Having several aspiring playwrights in our program, I would like begin implementing this more in our program to teach students how to get their work read, produced, and out in the professional world.“

The Penn High School Volleyball Team won the Regional Championship with a 3-1 victory against Michigan City on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.