Once again Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation schools, in all grade levels tested, scored above Indiana’s averages. The variance between P-H-M’s pass rate over the state is at least 10% or higher across all grade levels and subjects.

For grade 10, 75.6% of P-H-M students passed the ELA test and 58.4% passed the Math portion. The district’s overall pass rate for grade 10 was 56.4%.

For grades 3-8, 78.0% of P-H-M students passed the ELA test and 74.8% passed the Math test. P-H-M’s overall district pass rate for grades 3-8 was 68.3%.

For grade 10, P-H-M ranks in the Top 5% out of 291 public school corporations. In grades 3-8, P-H-M is in the Top 6% of public school districts out of 294 public school corporations.

Other significant highlights from the Spring 2018 ISTEP+ results:

• Overall, Penn High School ranks in the top 5% of all Indiana public high schools.
• Penn High School ranks 5th out of large public school districts (500+ students tested, based on both Math and ELA pass results of grade 10)
• Northpoint Elementary School is 2nd in Indiana public primary elementary schools (schools where grades 3-5 were tested)
• Discovery Middle School is 3rd in Indiana public middle schools (schools where grades 6-8 were tested)
• A total of four P-H-M elementary and one middle school—Northpoint, Prairie Vista, Horizon and Mary Frank Elementary Schools, along with Discovery Middle School—rank among the state’s Top 50 of all 1,426 public schools.

When reviewing the Corporation’s performance on the last round of ISTEP+ (grades 3-8) test results, P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker commented “P-H-M teachers and administrators are incredibly committed to our vision of excellence and offer the best education in the Michiana area. I am very proud of the fact that P-H-M is one of the state’s top performing school districts. The credit goes to our outstanding teachers, students and parents.”

Oct. 4 & 5, 7 p.m.

Penn Studio Theatre

Click to purchase tickets online

In the 1920’s, radium was considered as a miracle cure for anything. Radium was also being used on luminous watches, and became a big fad. The fad became a concern when women in factories manufacturing luminous watches started becoming sick with a mysterious condition.

Inspired by a true story, the play “Radium Girls,” written by D.W. Gregory, takes us through the story of women who were poisoned by radium found in the paint used to paint the dials.

The Penn High School Fine Arts Academy will present “Radium Girls” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, and 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5, in the Penn High School Studio Theater. Patrons can enter the school through Door C.

Watch the play trailer below …

In the play, the audience will witness the battle between Grace Fryer, a dial painter, and Arthur Roeder, the factory owner, as well as Roeder’s plethora of deceitful colleagues and the U.S. Radium Corporation.

This powerful and engrossing story was discovered by Penn High School Theater Instructor Crystal Ryan, who was immediately affected by it. Ryan felt like her team of actors were ready to take on the challenge of putting on a show like Radium Girls.

Ryan, who is passionate about the story of the “Radium Girls,” said that the story, “Is relevant to today and is a great learning opportunity for everyone who hears the story."

Click to purchase tickets online.

The Penn Boys Cross Country Team won the Northern Indiana Conference Championship.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Girls Cross Country Team won the Northern Indiana Conference Championship.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Boys Soccer Team beat Adams, 5-1, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn High School Soccer Team honored its Seniors on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2018.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

Former Penn High School Girls Soccer Stars Brooke VanDyck, Megan McLaughlin and Kristina Lynch reunited when Notre Dame hosted Florida State in Women’s Soccer action on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018.

VanDyck and McLaughlin play for Notre Dame, and Lynch plays for Florida State.

Van Dyck and Lynch were teammates on Penn’s back-to-back State Championship teams for Coach Jeff Hart.

A Photo Gallery of the Florida State-Notre Dame pre-game and game is posted below.

The annual Penn High School Powder Puff Game was held on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at TCU/Freed Field.

The Junior Class won the Championship.

A Photo Gallery featuring the work of Penn student Bryce Stone is posted below.

Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher announced that 10 Penn students have earned National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist status.

Amy Bernard, Chelsea Chen, Noah Howell, Aidan Kaczanowski, Brandon King, Tingyi Lu, Sage Marchand, Corey Wang, Eric Wood and Tainle Zhang of Penn are among the 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists nationwide.

These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $32 million that will be offered next spring.

"We are very excited for these students,” Galiher said. “Becoming a National Merit Semifinalist is a fantastic achievement as this recognition is only reserved for less than one percent of the nation's seniors.  This accomplishment reflects the collective efforts of each student, their teachers and family.  Our teachers take great pride in challenging our students and preparing them through rigorous and relevant coursework."  

National Merit Scholarship winners of 2018 will be announced in four nationwide news releases beginning in April and concluding in July. These scholarship recipients will join more than 330,000 other distinguished young people who have earned the Merit Scholar title.

By Kyle Jordan/Student Reporter

Last tennis season, Penn Tennis Senior Sid Das suffered an injury, and he couldn’t play tennis for the whole season. He quickly realized he missed the team.

Das wanted to get back to meet his new teammates, and to play tennis again. When he came back for the 2018 season, he found out he was going to be one the team captains. It was intimidating to him at first, but as he got to meet everyone he really felt honored to be team captain. It is a big responsibility, but he enjoys being a role model for the younger players.

As well as enjoying tennis, Das also enjoys extra-curriculars and classes at Penn. In addition to pursing academic excellence, Das is on the executive board for Freshmen Mentoring, he is on Model UN, TEAMS, and the Speech Team.

Das said he really likes being involved in clubs, because you get to meet new people, and develop new skills that aren’t advertised.

An example was that Das got to learn leadership in tennis, which he didn’t expect going into the season.

Das enjoys tennis, his clubs, and his classes in school. All of his hard work has paid off for him. For college, Das has been looking into IU and Purdue, and he plans to go into biology or engineering.