Penn High School held an Open House on Wednesday, Aug. 30, for parents and guardians to learn more about the Four-Star School and the classes their students are enrolled in.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School hosted the Penn Invite Cross Country meet on Saturday, Aug. 26. 

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Penn High School’s Freshmen Academy hosted a Freshmen Frenzy after the Penn-Merrillville football game on Friday, Aug. 25.

Penn Freshmen students met on the Baseball Field to meet one another and dance to DJ music, play games and win prizes.

A Photo Gallery is posted below:

Two of the highest honors for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are the Eagle Scout rank and Gold Award, respectively. Attaining these prestigious achievements not only requires dedication and hard work from the scouts, but also stresses the importance of community service through projects. 

At Penn High School, we encourage student participation in community service through project-based learning. It’s always gratifying when the students then apply these concepts in their own activities outside of school.

Last school year, nine Penn High School students (five graduates and four current students) gave back to their community on their way to achieving their Eagle Scout rank and Gold Awards.  In this latest example of #PHMExcellence, the students walk us through their community service projects at Prairie Vista and Madison Elementary Schools, and at Birch Lake in Vandalia, Michigan.

The P-H-M Community Tailgate was held Friday, August 25 before Penn’s home opener football game against Merriville. The popular annual event brings together members of the community, Penn faculty, staff and students, as well as parents and families from across the District. This was the 30^th year for the event.

Approximately 200 fans and supporters showed up to enjoy the food and good times served up by the P-H-M Educational Resource Staff and Administrators. Penn beat Merriville 7-0, so the night was a huge success!

If you missed the Community Tailgate this year, be sure to mark your calendar for next year. It’s always held the night of Penn’s first home game from 5:30-7:00 in the ESC parking lot! It’s quite a deal; for just $3.50 you get a grilled hot dog or brat, chips, cookies and a drink!

More than 10,000 Penn-Harris-Madison students in grades 1-12 headed back to school today (Wednesday, August 23, 2017) with tons of excitement for another year of #PHMExcellence!

Here’s a snapshot of the First Day from across the District … (be sure to click to view the photo gallery at the end of this story)

Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and new Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher got an early start to the day doing live interviews on the early morning news programs of South Bend’s three television stations, starting at 5:00 a.m.!  With student enrollment up this year to about 10,800 students, Dr. Thacker talked with excitement about the new school year. With P-H-M’s successful 1:1 Technology Initiative for all students in the District, P-H-M is in a great position to empower teachers with new technology and software that will help them utilize student formative assessment data more efficiently, which will help create a more personalized path unique for each student. Dr. Thacker also talked about how the District has recently created teacher leadership teams in all 11 elementary schools to increase leadership capacity and promote a renewed focus on high quality instructional practices. Principal Galiher talked to the news stations about Penn High School’s 97% graduation rate, with 45% of Penn students graduating with Honors and 51% graduate with a Core 40 degree.
 

Over at P-H-M Transportation Headquarters, approximately 139 buses started rolling out about 7:00 a.m. to pick up and transport students across the District to our 15 schools (11 elementary and three middle schools, and Penn High School).

For the first three days of school, Dr. Thacker visits all 15 schools! After leaving Penn High School this morning, his first stop was Madison Elementary to speak to students during their school assembly. All the students got a kick out of hearing about Dr. Thacker’s teaching days at Madison. P-H-M Board Members Jim Garrett and Larry Beehler (a Madison student alum) joined Dr. Thacker for his school visits this morning. Kevin McMillen’s enthusiasm, Madison’s new principal, for the new year was contagious. Students were so glad to be back at school they were hugging their teachers.

Over at Horizon Elementary, Principal Tressa Decker enlisted the help of parent volunteers to join Horizon teachers and staff to give students a “Heroes Welcome.” When students arrived at school, they were greeted by parents dressed in their work uniforms and were given "Be The Hero" medal. The goal … to inspire students to be the heroes we know they can be. 

Grissom and Schmucker Middle Schools also have new principals this year. Jean Milfort and Lavon Dean-Null were there to welcome sixth through eighth graders as they exited the buses. The hallways were a flurry of activity, but Mr. Milfort managed to spot and meet Grissom’s female football player linebacker and tight end, whose looking forward to a great year of proving herself to all the naysayers! Dr. Thacker and the Board members showed up later to say hello as part of their District tour. At Schmucker, Mrs. Dean-Null was busy helping students find their way to lockers, classes and at times played the role of “traffic cop!”

Horizon students weren’t the only ones to get a surprise when they arrived at school today. Back at Penn High School, Early College Academy staff dressed in caps and gowns to welcome the Early College Academy senior Class of 2018. This spring the students will be Penn’s first graduating co-hort of the Early College Academy—graduating with both high school diplomas and college associate degrees! Quite an accomplishment and something to look forward to!

Thursday, August 24 is the first day back for kindergartners in P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools.

It’s going to be another amazing year of academic excellence in Penn-Haris0n-Madison this year! Be sure to follow #PHMExcellence to see all the amazing pictures, videos and stories throughout the year!

As a result of this morning’s rain,  the caulking on the drive connecting the parking lot behind Penn High School and the north Bittersweet drive is not complete.  The driveway will be closed to through traffic, from the north, on Wednesday, August 23 (the first day back for P-H-M students). 

The Arena Lot will be made available after 12:00 p.m. today (Tuesday, August 22) to the public.  The lot can be accessed from the south Jefferson Blvd. entrance.

We encourage people to continue to use door D and the main parking lot.  The Arena Lot can only handle a minimal amount of pedestrian and car traffic.  

Fitness Center patrons will be able to use door G once again beginning today at 3:45 p,m.  
 

Brats & dogs hot off the grill at P-H-M’s annual community football tailgate party! 

Join us this Friday, August 25 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. under the big tents behind the Educational Services Center (ESC) at 55900 Bittersweet Rd., Mishawaka. 

There’s plenty of time to grab dinner for the family, visit with friends and then get to your seats inside TCU Freed Field before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. 

The Penn Kingsmen will take on the Merrillville Pirates in the season home opener.

The P-H-M Community Tailgate, hosted by the District’s central office staff and administrators, is a tradition now in its 30th year. The event is open to the public and all are welcome! Tickets are $3.50 and are sold on site, not in advance.

Dr. Jerry Thacker and P-H-M administrators look forward to meeting members of the community and visiting with P-H-M families. 

Kristina Lynch and Lauren Hamilton scored two goals each to power Penn High School’s Girls Soccer Team to a 7-0 victory against Marian in the Northern Indiana Conference opener for both clubs on Monday, Aug. 21.

Mackenzie Wood earned her fourth shutout in as many games.

Penn, ranked No.1 in the Nation and No. 1 in Indiana, improved to 4-0 with the victory.

Penn only needed three minutes to light up the scoreboard. Lauren Cernak scored off an assist by Kristina Lynch.

Lynch skipped through Marian’s defense and fired a shot into the top corner for Penn’s second goal (ninth minute).

Brooke VanDyck then turned in a spectacular goal to make it 3-0 in the 19th minute. VanDyck dribbled past five defenders and then unleashed a right-footed strike from 20 yards out into the top corner.

One minute later, Lynch scored her second goal off an assist from McKenzie Blankenbaker.

Regan Hart took took a dazzling pass from Lynch to make it 5-0 in the 31st minute.

Hamilton scored both of Penn’s second-half goals, in the 45th minute and the 47th minute. Lynch heel-flicked a throw-in from Kelsi Carrico over two defenders and sent in a beautiful ball to Hamilton, who finished. Hamilton scored her second goal on a stunning cross from Carrico.

Penn swept the doubles competitions in a match against Fort Wayne Carroll, but Carroll finished with a 3-2 victory against the Kingsmen on Monday, Aug. 21.

Eric Spaargaren and Aiden O'Day teamed up for a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 1 doubles.

Maity Spitters and Nick Casetti won a tough match, 7-5, 6-3, to provide the Kingsmen with a point.

Carroll 3, PENN 2

Singles:

1. Ethan Radke (Carroll) beat AJ Antonelli (Penn) 6-0, 6-4.

2. Luke Stoffel (Carroll) beat Will Thurin (Penn) 6-1, 6-3.

3. Kyle Hoerr (Carroll) beat Aidan Sucharetza (Penn) 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles:

1. Eric Spaargaren/Aiden O'Day (Penn) beat Grant Newman/Stephen Verhoff (Carroll) 6-3, 6-2.

2. Maity Spitters/Nick Casetti (Penn) beat Ethan Harris/Caleb Shoaf (Carroll) 7-5, 6-3.