Penn student-athletes will participate in 25 events this week.
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Penn High School Principal Steve Hope announced several new appointments/changes for the start of the 2016-2017 School Year. The Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees approved (Monday, Aug. 8, 2016) Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker’s appointment of Randy Williams as Associate Principal at Penn High School. Along with Mr. Williams, Mr. Hope has named three new Academy Leaders: Laura McKenzie will serve as the Freshman Academy Leader, Shannon Gray will be the Health and Human Services Academy Leader, and Josiah Parker will be the Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Academy Leader.

Mr. Williams is returning to Penn after serving as Principal at both Madison and Walt Disney Elementary Schools. He will lead Student Services as Associate Principal.

Graduating with academic honors as the salutatorian at South Bend LaSalle High School, Mr. Williams then earned a degree in Education with a Science Endorsement at Indiana University. He graduated with distinction at Indiana University, and earned a Master’s in Education at Ball State.

“Mr. Williams is adept at building relationships, de-escalating tempers and helping students focus on learning,” Mr. Hope said. “His skills in these areas will serve us all well as he leads Student Services.”

Mr. Williams will also serve as the school safety specialist and work with McKenzie in leading the Freshman Academy. His wife, Bridget Williams, is the assistant athletic director at Penn High School. He coached baseball, girls basketball, softball at Penn, South Bend St. Joseph, and Elkhart Central, and also coached the Quiz Bowl team at Penn.

Ms. McKenzie was born and raised in Atlanta. She started her career at Georgia Federal Savings and Loan, and began to mentor and tutor students in her spare time.

After moving to Indiana, she began a career in education. She will continue to teach Math in addition to serving as the Freshman Academy Leader.

“Ms. McKenzie takes great delight in our students thriving and having the common language of the CTL literacy training,” Mr. Hope said.

Health and Human Services Academy Leader Ms. Gray, who teaches English/Language Arts, is a graduate of South Bend John Adams High School and Valparaiso University. She earned her Master’s in Education from Indiana University South Bend.

Ms. Gray has served as a Professional Learning Community Leader for English 11, English 10 and English 9.

“Ms. Gray has mentored many new teachers and has the great ability to create cohesive, high-functioning teams,” Mr. Hope said. “She is eager to support all teachers at Penn.”

Mr. Parker will be the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academy Leader. Mr. Parker is one of the leaders of the heralded “Hand Of Grace” project in which Penn students created prosthetic arm for a third-grade Madison Elementary student using 3-D printer technology.

Mr. Parker is a 2002 graduate of Lakeland High School in LaGrange, Ind. He graduated from Ball State University as an architecture major and transitioned to a degree in Engineering and Technology Education.

 “Mr. Parker’s goals are to connect our classes and students to projects within our community, create a STEM learning community where classes work collectively on projects, and help teachers find resources and funding to support the amazing things that they do in the classroom,” Mr. Hope added.

Penn High School will open its doors to incoming students and families from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Aug. 20, for the annual Walk Around. Students and families may enter Penn High School for the Walk Around through Doors A, B and C.

One purpose of the Walk Around is to give students the opportunity to walk through their schedule to find classes before the first day of school, which is Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Brief parent meetings at the Walk Around will be conducted at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. in LGI-A.

“The Walk Around is a great way to ease the nerves of incoming freshmen by meeting a Freshman Mentor to walk them through their schedule,” Penn High School counselor Marni Cronk said. “Students can also pick up Penn Spirit Wear, courtesy of the Booster Club.  Also, many clubs will be represented, so students have a chance to explore opportunities at Penn and get involved!”

National Night Out is celebrated by hundreds of communities across the United States on the first Tuesday in August. 

The annual event—now in its 33^rd year—brings together members of local law enforcement and the communities they serve in a free evening of food, fun and fellowship.

This year Michiana will celebrate National Night Out at Penn High School on Tuesday, August 2. 

The event will be from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. with all activities on Penn’s football practice field, adjacent to TCU Freed Field on the east side of the high school. 

Sponsored by St. Joseph County Police, along with other local businesses and community partners, there is no charge to park or attend. 

The weather forecasters are predicting a perfect summer evening, so plan to get out and get in on the fun! 

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation will host Technovation 2016, a digital learning initiative for educators across the Midwest, at Penn High School on Wednesday, July 20, and Thursday, July 21.

Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz will provide a welcome address to participants on Wednesday, and George Couros, author and leading educator in the field of innovative leadership, teaching and learning, will give the keynote address on Thursday morning.

At last year’s inaugural conference, more than 300 Indiana educators participated in the event, which offers a wide spectrum of innovative techniques to blend technology with teaching in order to increase student engagement and student achievement.

“In this digital environment, our students move from mere consumers of education to actual participants and producers of educational content,” Penn High School Principal Steve Hope said regarding the purpose of Technovation 2016. “The use of technology is simply another tool – a very powerful tool – to continue the work of inquiry, problem-solving, and critical thinking.”  

Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker noted P-H-M’s commitment to 1:1 student-to-technological device ratio at Penn High School and its three middle schools has played a key role in teaching and learning engagement in and outside the classroom.

“With a Chromebook at their side, our teachers and students will have the world at their fingertips,” Thacker said.

P-H-M teachers at the elementary, middle and high school levels, along with P-H-M administrators and staff, will deliver the presentations. Penn students will be on-hand to showcase and answer questions on the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science Lab tools used at the high school: augmented reality sandbox, UAV science drones, tornado generator and an earthquake machine (click here to see a “road map” of the Technovation classes).

Attendees will also see vendor demonstrations, such as zSpace, a 3D virtual learning tool. zSpace is an interactive hardware and software platform that brings resources to life through 3D technology helping students visualize and create.

“We see this as an opportunity for showcasing the talented teachers and students of the district as well as a launchpad of lifelong learning for the school year at Penn-Harris-Madison,” Technovation 2016 coordinator Duke Lines said.

Featured speakers at Technovation 2016 include Lisa Duerkson, Jeanie Mitchell, Rachel Fry, Amy Heavin, Terri Whitehead, Kelly Clifford, Sheila Toth, Beth Raker, Jarred Corwin, and Jill Kaufman.

More than 60 sessions will be offered in administration, technology personnel and teacher tracks.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to meet with a wide-range of vendors including, but not limited to: Luma Audio & Visual, Automated Data Systems, Ruckus Wireless, Audio Enhancement, Brocade, CIBER Inc., Edmentum, Educational Furniture, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard, Indiana Connected Educators, Instructure and St. Joe Valley Metronet.

Penn High School principal Steve Hope announced the appointment of Rachel Fry as an assistant principal at Penn High School effective July 1, 2016.

Hope said that Fry had proven herself as a great leader in her roles as a teacher, instructional coach and academy leader.

“(Rachel’s) leadership has supported both greater student success and greater teacher success,” Hope said.

Fry, a graduate of Merrillville High School and Ball State University, will oversee Career and Technical Education Funding, K-12 STEM initiatives, teacher observations, resolution of Parent/Teacher/Student issues, supervision, professional development, Inside 56100, the start & end of the school year, and clubs.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work in a leadership capacity with some of the best teachers and students in the state!” Fry said. “I look forward to growing our STEM Academy by developing more partnerships, and providing more unique and relevant learning experiences for students in order to better prepare them for their future endeavors.”

Starting her teaching career at Merrillville High School in the field of special education, Fry also taught math at Crown Point High School before coming to Penn High School. She has a Master’s Degree in educational leadership from Ball State University. In addition to serving as the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Academy Leader, she also served as the Freshman Academy Leader at Penn.

“Rachel has distinguished herself as a master teacher in a very short time,” Hope said. “Her practice is exceptional and she has exceptional student achievement results as well. She has been a national presenter for incorporating literacy in math and overall student engagement.”

Penn High School students heard the sounds of exceptional success in the Music City for the TEAMS National Finals in Nashville, Tenn., on June 28-July 2.

TEAMS – Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science – started out as a competition for more than 10,000 high school students at 125 locations nationwide. The event, according to the sponsoring Technology Student Association, challenges students to work collaboratively and apply their math and science knowledge in practical, creative ways to solve real, everyday engineering challenges

Penn students qualified for the TEAMS National Finals in Nashville, and scored Top 10 places in four events.

 Megha Devaraj's team – Megha Devaraj, Kanika Arora, Olivia Mercurio, Jessica Lee, Edward Atkinson, Jack Bao,  David Kim and Matt Shan – placed third in the nation in Problem Solving, eighth in the nation in written paper, and sixth overall in Best in the Nation.

Presto George's team – Presto George, Hannah McGinness, Michelle Tapp, Nick Thurin, Morgan Ludwig,  Courtney Seigel, Nina Bakshi and Neal Patel – placed seventh in the nation in Problem Solving.

Kanika Arora also helped coach the Schmucker Middle School TEAMS competitors, who placed second in the nation overall. Click here for the story on Schmucker’s TEAMS success.

TEAMS is a program of the Technology Student Association, which offers STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) competitions for middle and high school students across the nation, reaching more than 225,000 students and 2,000 schools in 48 states.

Penn TEAMS coach Becky Tagliaferri expressed pride in the Top 10 showings nationally.

"We went up against some of the finest math, science, and engineering high schools in the country and showed them that Penn High School is among the best," Tagliaferri said. “After placing consistently for four years now, Penn High School is a player on the national stage of TEAMS engineering competition.”

Penn High School assistant principal and STEM Academy Leader Rachel Fry commended Tagliaferri and the Penn STEM Academy students for their showing on a national stage.

“After the latest accomplishments, I would like to add that the success of TEAMS is evidence that our students are not only learning rigorous STEM standards; but are able to apply this knowledge in collaborative problem-solving, and then strengthen presentation and communication skills through the culminating presentation,” Fry said. “Becky Tagliaferri has done a wonderful job working with these students and motivating 6-12 grade interest in TEAMS.”

Competitors in the TEAMS National Finals wrote a paper about optogenetics. Penn English teacher Jim Sauer assisted the effort by proofreading the paper that the Penn students submitted. Competitors also had to give a presentation on tools to make humans a multi-planetary species.

In the problem-solving section, students were only told to research the Hubble Telescope failure of 1990 beforehand. At the National Finals competition, students were then given math application problems to do, and they had to build a reflector that concentrated light onto a light meter and fit into a specified one-foot by three-inch diameter tube.

Each student gets a progress report at the end of the school year that lets parents know about their child’s academic standing and achievement. Penn High School gets one also!

Principal Steve Hope delivered Penn High School’s annual progress report to the school trustees and others in attendance at their June 27, 2016 board meeting.

He shared these academic achievements, athletics highlights, and other accolades. Click here to access the full report. 

ACADEMICS

Mr. Hope reported that Penn met and exceeded Indiana’s three “high achievement” targets, known as 90-25-90, by scoring 90-66-97.

The three data points in this metric represent End-of-Course Assessment (ECA) results, College and Career Readiness measures, and Graduation Rate. Of note is Penn’s continued improvement in these three areas.

• Looking at ECA Scores over time, the passing rate for English 10, for example, has risen from 83% five years ago to 90% in 2015.
• Gains in the area of College and Career Readiness are remarkable, up from 27% success in 2011 to 66% in 2015.
• Penn’s graduation rate has climbed steadily, rising from 79% in 2008 to just under 98% in 2015.

Another measure of success is the rate at which Academic Honors Diplomas are being earned. More than 50% of Penn graduates earned an Academic Honors diploma in 2016—nearly double the 27% rate in 2008—while fewer than 2% graduated with a general diploma.

Mr. Hope attributes Penn’s success in educating and graduating students in great part to the faculty’s dedication to the three R’s of Rigor, Relevance and Relationships, as well as the school’s academy structure, and the district’s investment in professional development for its instructional staff.

Penn is proud to once again be recognized as an elite 90-25-90 school!

ATHLETICS

The Penn Girls Basketball program won its first ever state championship this year. The squad is coached by Kristi Ulrich–who was recently named South Bend Tribune Coach of the Year.

In addition to the Girls Basketball team’s run to the state title, these three teams finished as semi-state champions: Boys Varsity Football, Girls Soccer, Girls Softball.

Also won this year by our IHSAA-sanctioned fall, spring and winter sports teams: 12 Northern Indiana Conference championships, 16 sectional championships, and 9 regional championships.

Penn is proud to be home to three Indiana Mental Attitude Award winners! These three student-athletes were recognized at the state level for their character and contributions: Camden Bohn (Football), Kamra Solomon (Girls Soccer), and Alyssa Griman (Softball).

ACCOLADES

While Penn High School students and staff have earned many accolades in the past year, Mr. Hope singled out these four in his report to the board:

• Penn was named an Indiana 4-Star School for the fourth consecutive year
• US News & World Report included Penn in its national “Best High Schools” list
• The Washington Post identified Penn as one of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools”
• Indiana Department of Education recognized Penn as a School of Promising Practices for its delivery of “Problem-based Learning”

Click here to access the full report

The Indiana High School Athletic Association announced that physical forms required for participating in IHSAA sports at member high schools may now be completed and signed by more medical professionals.

The IHSAA adopted the changed during its recent final meeting of the 2015‐16 school year.

Effective immediately, the IHSAA pre‐participation physical evaluation form may now be completed and signed by, not only a physician with an unlimited license to practice medicine, but also nurse practitioners and physician assistants clearing high school students for athletic participation.

Penn HIgh School students must have completed physical evaluation forms turned into the Athletic Office by July 18 to participate in Fall Sports for the Kingsmen.

"The Indiana High School Athletic Association continues to greatly value the medical guidance from the Committee on Sports Medicine which is a branch of the Indiana State Medical Association” said IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox in a press release issued by the IHSAA.  “Traditionally, the Association has maintained a position whereby a doctor with an unlimited license to practice medicine in our state either perform or certify the pre‐participation physical examination for our student athletes. While our expectation of providing the highest standard of care for our students has not wavered, the Association respects the changes in the health care landscape over the last few years. In light of this ever changing panorama, the Association now extends an opportunity for a select group of professionals to execute the pre‐participation physical examination."

Between April 1 and a student’s first practice in a sport, a physical evaluation must be performed and the appropriate form completed, signed and submitted to member school administrators. The Indiana High School Athletic Association continues to receive guidance from the Sports Medicine Committee of the Indiana State Medical Association. Approximately 160,000 students participate in high school athletics on an annual basis in Indiana.

Some music tugs at the heartstrings.

There is no tugging with Andrew Warner’s music. It punches through emotional walls and blasts through a Photoshop culture to confront the listener with a piercing reality. It is melodic and soulful music that can be harsh, yet offer hope at the same time.

Warner, a Biology teacher at Penn High School, is on tour this summer to promote his new album, “Temporary Circumstances.” The Album can be downloaded for free at https://andrewwarner.bandcamp.com/album/temporary-circumstances-ep (donations accepted).

Creating an acoustic punk pop sound that converges with enthralling no-holds-barred lyrics, Warner’s “Little Ein’s Tour” will hit Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin, as well as Indiana this summer.

A solo artist, Warner will be performing at The Well Basement, 2410 Mishawaka Ave, South Bend, on Tuesday, June 28. Click here for event info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1704136839832043/

“It’s a message of hope cloaked in anger and frustration,” Warner said of the songs on “Temporary Circumstances”. “I’m not confronting my audience, but I’m confronting myself.”

 “It’s really hard to find people in my genre,” Warner said. “I really like screaming. It’s angry music that tells people how I feel. It’s not like I’m upset at people for hurting me. It’s like, ‘I’m trying to make the world a better place, and here’s why I’m upset by it, and here’s my music trying to make things better.’”

Warner’s music is a lightning strike to the conscience of the human condition.

“My music is about my experiences with divorce in my family, my grandparents,” Warner explained. “I lived with my grandparents starting when I was in the third grade.

“I write about the difficulty of having a relationship with somebody, and how this incorporates with my faith in God, how my actions try to do the right thing, but I always, somehow, end up falling short. It’s wrapped around the idea of my finding purpose in something greater, so that I can still be sad about the things around me, but I can still have hope in the end.

“My music is really sarcastic,” Warner continued. “It’s tongue-in-cheek, like, ‘Is he really calling that person out right now?’ ‘Is he really saying that?’ I’m not cursing people, but I’m yelling because I mean it, and I’m yelling because I’m passionate about it.”

Warner’s high-volume message pushes a mirror in front of listeners, and demands thoughtful self-reflection. His open and punk approach can take some listeners aback.

“In terms of me yelling … some generations don’t think that’s music,” Warner said. “They think it’s scary. I think there is something about my music that my students can relate to, that people my age can relate to. There are a lot of things in the world that aren’t being said, and when they are, they’re being said really quietly, or they’re being said behind closed doors. One thing I like about my music is I’m open, and I’m vulnerable, and I’m not afraid to say things that people talk about, that people gossip about, that people whisper about. I like being extremely honest. I think every generation can afford to be a little more honest.”

Warner is comfortable with being uncomfortable, whether it’s reflecting about his relationship with his wife, how he treats his friends, or overcoming the pain of anguish. He gives that same jolt of discomfort to his listeners.

“I hope my music is offensive to people, because it makes people remember. It’s going to upset people,” Warner said. “It will make some people feel uncomfortable. I openly talk about God in some of my songs, and that will make some people upset.

“I scream at myself more than I scream at people. I see this idealistic way of living that is characterized by the perfect character of God, and then I see my life, and I say, ‘I’m such a broken person,’ and I’m aware of it. There are people who are broken, who aren’t aware of it, and they’re settling and they’re comfortable and it’s driving me nuts. I’d rather know about my brokenness and live the way I am now, than be blinded.

A graduate of Michigan State University and a native of the Detroit area, Warner just completed his first year at Penn. The honesty of his music is an extension of the honesty of his teaching and his character.

“I’m open with my students,” Warner said. “I’ll say like, ‘Here’s what I have. Take what you want. It will come to you in six years, so I’m expecting an email in six years. You’re 14 now. Half of the stuff I’m saying now, you’re not going to understand until you’re older.’

“I’m everything that I’m trying to teach against. I think there’s some value in that, and I think there’s some transparency in that, that you don’t really see in people. That’s what I just want. I want people to be a little more open about themselves. If you tell people that you’re not perfect, then I think they’ll see you as a human, rather than the authoritative teacher.”

Warner said that Penn High School music teacher Lavon Oke provided resources that were extremely helpful in the production of the album. He also credited the album producer, Kept On Hold, for his contributions.

“We just brought it to life,” Warner said of his album. “I feel like that the album has something for everybody. It has the nice, slow acoustic love song, it has the hard-hitting sarcastic real songs.”