Attention Penn High School Parents and Students:

Graduation is fast approaching and we want to ensure that you have everything you need for this special day.  Caps and Gowns will be passed out during Rehearsal scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, and Thursday, April 25.  If you have not placed your order, please order no later than Friday, March 1, 2024, to pick up at the scheduled delivery event on April 24 and April 25.

The Commencement Ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m., Monday, June 3, 2024, at the University of Notre Dame.

The following link will take you to your school’s landing page for all your graduation needs.  This link includes all the packages and ala carte items for announcements, apparel and your cap and gown unit.

https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/catalogBrowse/1072642/PENN-HIGH-SCHOOL/Graduation/2260685888/CATALOG_REPOSITORY/

If you only need a cap and gown (includes tassel) here is the direct link.

https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/productDetail/1072642/PENN-HIGH-SCHOOL/Cap-and-Gown/2260685888/CATALOG_REPOSITORY/Cap-Gown-Tassel-Unit/2260685910

Congratulations on this milestone achievement.   If you have questions, please contact the Jostens office at 574.216.6336.

To celebrate Penn’s Speech and Debate Team State Debate Tournament winning Penn’s first Debate Team Championship ever instead of just having a celebratory party (which the team did), they also through in a “team activity.”

After school on Tuesday, January 30th, Team Captains and students got to cut off their Team Coach Mr. Jeremy Starkweather’s hair! Mr. Starkweather is known for his golden, poofy afro. But to motivate the team to win the ISSDA State Debate Tournament, he told his team captains last summer when they were at the National Competition that the students could cut his hair if they won the State Championship in 2024. Of course the team won, so that meant Mr. Starkweather had to give up his golden locks. Click to watch the TikTok video below. Click to see the full photo gallery.

To make the fun go for a good cause, Mr. Starkweather reached out to the students who run Short Hair Because We Care to donate his hair. Remarkably but not surprisingly, Mr. Starkweather had 9 inches to donate! Because he was donating his hair, the students couldn’t just shave his head with clippers, his hair had to be sectioned off and braided into mini-pony tails, which made the process a little longer. But the payoff was worth the wait for the students!

It was quite the turnout to see this big event. Not only were the Debate students there, but so were other Penn students who heard about it, Principal Dr. Sean Galiher, and other Penn teachers and coaches. Even PHM District administration and Superintendent Dr. Thacker turned out for the big show. Dr. Thacker even had the honorary last cut!

One of the Team Captains Bella Schaetzle’s mother is a hair stylist and loaned her daughter the tools to cut Mr. Starkweather’s hair. She also graciously offered to clean up his “cut” once the students were done. Below is what Mr. Starkweather looks like the day after on Wednesday, January 31st. He says his hair should grow back in a few months!

Thanks for being a good sport and such a dedicated coach Mr. Starkweather!

See the full photo gallery below …

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“Captain Jack Sparrow” made an appearance at Penn High School today (Tuesday, January 30) performing the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song for 4th and 5th grade students. This mini concert is a great way to introduce students to instruments they might not be familiar with as they think about what possible instrument they might want to pursue in middle school. In P-H-M middle schools, students can pursue orchestra, band or choir as a Fine Arts elective.

Students got a real treat … the Orchestra’s drummers performed a sown written by Senior Clayton Hopper; it was called “March of the Clumsy.” All the drummers performed it together to demo percussion.

Due to scheduling logistics, only half of P-H-M elementary schools participated traveled to Penn for this year’s show. The other half attended last year. That way every P-H-M student will see the show in either 4th grade or a 5th grade. 

Take a look at the photo gallery below …

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Penn’s Debate Team was triumphant Saturday, January 27 at the 2024 ISSDA State Debate Tournament winning Penn’s first Debate Team Championship ever! 

The ISSDA awarded Penn Senior Noah Shafer with the Bob Brittain Mental Attitude Award and a $500 scholarship!

Penn beat out 25 other Indiana Schools competing in seven debate rounds to determine the finalists. 

Here are the Tournament results:

Octa Finalists: 

• Bella Schaetzle and Chris Chapple- Policy
• Amina Spahic and RebeccaWolter- Policy
• Alex Wagler- Lincoln Douglas
• Leah Wagner and Rayna Doland- Public Forum

Quarter Finalists: 

• Leena Khan and Ava Lightburn- Policy Debate
• Chris Chen- Lincoln Douglas
• Ben Galiher, Mira Yaradi, Ishita Awasti, Sydney Herriman, Vicki Sanchez- World Schools

Semi Finalists: 

• Ishita Masetty- Congress
• Shayan Asafuadula- Congress
• Sohan Patel- Congress

State-Runner Ups:

• Bohdan Kolomiiets and Noah Schafer- Public Forum
• Stanley Liew, Noah Shafer, Lana Ealdama, Jawad Siddique, Mia Helm- World Schools
• Sarah Rooney- Lincoln Douglas
• Grant Spadafore- Congress

State Champions: 

• Sarah Ahmed and Lynn Chung- Policy Debate
• Akul Bhambani- Lincoln Doulgas

In all five events, Penn was able to place in the top two in the entire state. The final round of Lincoln Douglas debate (which is the most competitive event) featured Penn vs. Penn, Sarah Rooney vs. Akul Bhambani. Akul won by a 3-2 decision with the judges.

The students are getting more than trophies to commemorate their wins. As per an agreement with the Team Captains made at the National Debate Tournament last June, Team Coach Mr. Jeremy Starkweather will allow the team captains to shave his head. It will happen after school at Team Practice on Tuesday, January 30. Click here to see the pictures and video!

The Policy Champions receive a traveling trophy that has existed since 1928. The last time the trophy was in Penn High School was when it was won by Coach Starkweather when he himself was a Penn Senior Debate student back in 2013. 

This is how many teams Penn students had to beat out:

• 23 Policy Debate Teams
• 46 Public Forum Teams
• 64 Lincoln Douglas Debaters
• 59 Congress Debaters and
• 27 World Schools Teams

Each competitor is guaranteed three preliminary rounds of debate but must win four out of their six judges’ ballots to advance to the single elimination bracket. Only the top 16 teams advance to this stage of the tournament. The Penn high school team advanced 16 out of the 18 entries, making this an incredible team effort. From that point on, each round had a three judge panel. A team must win 2 out of 3 possible ballots to continue to move through the tournament. 

According to the Indiana Department of Education’s (IDOE) data released on December 29, 2023, Penn High School’s graduation rate is 98.12%–among the highest in the state!

The IDOE says 88.98% of Indiana students in the Class of 2023 graduated last year. Penn’s rate is 9.14 higher than the state!

Overall, the 2023 statewide graduation increased by nearly 2.5 percentage points. A spreadsheet with statewide-, corporation- and school-level graduation data is available here. 2023 represents the third-highest graduation rate since Indiana began collecting data in 2012.

Read more from the IDOE on the state’s increased graduation rates.

Hosted by Penn PTO. Questions? Please contact Penn PTO at pennhspto@gmail.com.

The P-H-M Education Foundation has wrapped up the grant announcements for the 2023-2024 school year; and it’s been a big year with tons of recipients. Walt Disney was the recipient of 12 grants for the combined total of $12,123.04!!!

English teacher Caelea Armstrong partnered with student Akash Singh to apply for $1,000 to purchase basic self-care and hygiene products for students. The money will be used to buy soap, hair products, deodorant, etc., as well as storage containers and distribution bags for students in need. Printed awareness materials, such as posters and other informational materials, will also be paid for out of the funds.

Robotics and Manufacturing teachers Kyle Marsh and Scott Shelhart applied for and received $3,000 for the “Kingsmen Karting through STEM project. Students collaborate with each other to design, manufacture, fabricate, test and evaluate two go-karts. The initiative encourages collaboration and further develop students’ understanding of physics, math and technology.

Penn Art Gallery Curator Jessica Marsh was awarded $1,000 to purchase the necessary materials to start a jewelry program at the high school. Students will be encouraged to submit to Scholastic Arts and Writing competitions while learning a real applicable life skill (related to/uses welding, manufacturing, robotics and other disciplines.)

Early College Biology teacher Toni Boger-May received $1,000 to use in her Integrated Chemistry and Physics classes. Students are required to design, build and refine a device that converts one form of energy into another form of energy. Students will construct a simple AC generator using Neodymium batteries and magnets as well as build dye-sensitized solar cells to harvest sunlight into electricity.

The National Honor Society teacher sponsors Karen Tagliaferri and Lana Ealdama worked with student David Son to write a grant for $610 to purchase five plastic recycling bins for classrooms. NHS plans to increase student awareness of recycling materials in the school. The Foundation is encouraging NHS to look into expanding it to a school-wide recycling program partnering with other clubs/local agencies as necessary.

John Gensic and Amanda Bates were awarded $2,770.70 to purchase MyGardyn 3.0 to cultivate edible plants within Penn to support students facing food insecurity. The funds will also be used to provide hands-on learning experiences for Agriculture Students, Plant Club, Key Club, Environmental Awareness Club and Biology students who will all participate in the growing and harvesting of plants. 

American Sign Language teacher Delicia Huckleberry was awarded $1,577 to buy a second projector for ASL room which will allow student presenters to reference the screen on the other side of the room when presenting. Unlike other presentations, students are not able to reference their presentation slides when doing ASL so the projector will support confidence In student presentations.

Penn also received five EZ Grants:

• $216.34 to purchase fishing equipment and supplies for Penn Fishing Club, “Luring Biodiversity”
• $200 to purchase mobile white boards for students in computer science classrooms
• $249 to purchase new music selections for use at Penn and in demonstrating to 4th and 5th grade students
• $250 to purchase t-shirts for Penn Counselors to wear at school and raise awareness about the Safe School Helpline and Suicide Prevention
• $250 to purchase small gifts, candy, and cards for Penn’s “Random Acts of Kindness Club.” The items will be distributed to students.

This cycle the Foundation Grants Committee awarded $42,819.63 in funding to 15 EZ grants and 20 traditional grants. Click here for the full list of funded grants.

PHMEF has moved to one grant cycle per school year, now moved to the Fall, to allow teachers and schools time to put their grant dollars to good use right away.

Executive Director Jennifer Turnblom traveled across the district to surprise various grant recipients with the good news of their funding amount. Grants awarded this year cover a wide array of innovative programs and activities from $10,000 to Grissom Middle School to purchase keyboards for the music room to milkweed plants for Madison Elementary so the school could attract monarch butterflies.

Click here to see the photo gallery on the District’s website of the check deliveries or click to follow PHMEF’s Facebook page.

Penn High School hosted its annual Showcase for prospective students.

A photo gallery is posted below.

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Today in Eric Bowers’ European History class, his students experienced a little bit of a time warp. Mr. Bowers had been going over the French Revolution, but then he did a quantum leap of 131 years to Le Francport near Compiègne, France.

That’s where the Germans signed the armistice with the Allies to end World War I. It was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day, of the 11th month in1918. The day became known as Armistice Day, later as Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and eventually Veterans Day, a federal holiday in the United States.

Mr. Bowers then had students sign a Veterans Day card for fellow Penn teacher Matt Rollins, who teaches Government in the Early College Academy. 

Mr. Rollins was in the Army and served in the Iraq War. Students got a chance to ask Mr. Rollins questions about his service. One student asking him if he ever interacted with anyone famous while he was in the Army. Surprisingly Mr. Rollins answer was YES!

Mr. Rollins was actually assigned to then Vice President Joe Biden’s security detail, and he told the students if they “Googled” it, they’d find a picture of him in the background of a picture of now First Lady Jill Biden.

The students did in fact find this picture of Dr. Jill Biden taken July 4, 2010 when she was visiting Camp Victory, Iraq, and who was in the background? Mr. Matt Rollins!!!

Mr. Bowers’ G1 European History class got a very well rounded Veterans Day history lesson!