At the Monday, March 25, 2024 Board Meeting, the P-H-M Board of School Trustees voted to award the contract to construct Penn High School’s new Fieldhouse.

This investment for our students will NOT raise taxes for the residents of P-H-M. The administration and board are committed to fiscal responsibility and we are in excellent financial health. P-H-M has the lowest tax rate in St. Joseph County while being dedicated to delivering the highest academic outcomes. 

Construction will begin immediately with anticipated substantial completion for the start of the 2025-26 school year. 

This project, designed by Architect Mike Schipp of Fanning Howey and engineered by P-H-M parent Troy Madlem of Magnus Engineering utilizes the most economical building methods to provide a great value for the investment in this 80,000 square-foot facility.

Watch the video animation above or click here. Here are some of the features that will be included:

• 6-lane indoor 200m track and enough space to support indoor field events like pole vault, long jump, high jump, and shot put
• dropdown activity nets that will allow for baseball, softball, and golf to practice hitting
• two traditional wood courts and two multi-purpose floored courts to support basketball, volleyball, dance, tennis, the winter guard, and so much more! School dances, community gatherings, youth sports, robotics, and the marching band will utilize this great facility.
• When completed it will have four (4) locker rooms, two (2) classrooms, an athletic training room, bleacher seating for over 800 people, storage to support housing equipment for our programming needs, an observation hallway servicing the second floor, a security office, concession stand, and event parking!

The construction will not impact the daily operations of Penn High School. Construction of the new fieldhouse will take place off of McKinley in the area between the new Culvers Restaurant and the Penn Fire Station.

This new facility will increase the amount of active learning space available before, during, and after the school day for academic programming and most importantly increase the total amount of space for all students to participate in extracurricular, co-curricular, and intramural offerings. MORE SPACE = MORE OPPORTUNITY. Research shows that increasing student opportunities and participation increases student achievement and academic success. 

The administration, in collaboration with Mr. Mike Schipp, Project Manager/Principal with Fanning Howey, recommends awarding a contract to construct the Penn High School Field House to the lowest and most responsive bidder, R. Yoder Construction Inc. of Nappanee for a base bid of $14,741,535.00 and Alternates no. 1, no. 3, no. 4., no. 6, and no. 8 for a total award of $15,926,745.00. 

Base Bid: $ 14,741,535.00

• Alt. #1: South Parking Lot $ 200,891.00
• Alt. #3: Decorative Resinous Flooring at Locker Rooms & Restrooms $ 56,000.00
• Alt. #4: Operable Wall $ 31,887.00
• Alt. #6: Interior Metal Liner Panel at Fieldhouse $ 51,744.00
• Alt. #8: Unit C – Support Addition of 4,700 SF $ 844,688.00

Total Contract Amount $ 15,926,745.00

A letter of recommendation from Fanning Howey and the bid tab sheet from the five (5) local bidders is found here.

Here are links to past public presentations:

• 7.24.23 Video Link & Presentation link: School Board Meeting
• 8.7.23 Video Link & Presentation link: School Board Meeting
• 8.21.23 Video Link & Presentation Link: School Board Meeting
• 9.6.23 Presentation Link: P-H-M Forum September 6th, 2023
• 3.25.24 Video Link & Presentation Link:  School Board Meeting

A few hours after being introduced to his team as the Kingsmen’s new Head Football Coach, Pete Riordan was introduced to the South Bend sports media in his first news conference. News outlets in attendance were WHME-TV, WSBT, WNDU, ABC 57, and the South Bend Tribune. Students from PNN (Penn News Network) and The Pennant were also present and participated. Click here to see the full news conference. Click here to see a full photo gallery below.

Here are some highlights of the news conference. Penn High School Athletic Director Jeff Hart introduced Coach Pete, who made a few short remarks before opening up the discussion with reporter questions.

Also taking reporter questions were retiring Coach Cory Yeoman and Hall of Famer Chris Geesman. 

Returning Penn players Vinny Freeman and Kellen Watson also spoke to how excited they are to have Coach Pete take over. In the clip below Freeman talks about the sense of family that Coach Pete invoked at this morning’s team meeting.

Watson is also on the Penn Track & Field Team; as a member of the 4×100 team, Watson was one of the players that broke the school record. Watson was last year’s backup quarterback!

Click here to see the full news conference.

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• FIRST Indiana Robotics Tournament
• “Books & Bots” event for P-H-M’s elementary students
• “The Music Man” musical production in the evenings
• Kingsmen Art Gallery open highlighting artwork by student winners of the Scholastic Art Awards

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Penn’s school musical this year is “The Music Man.”

You won’t want to miss Penn’s talented student performers as they act out the play that follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef!

This year’s musical also includes the talents of a few P-H-M elementary and middle school students:

• Mary Cortes, 5th grade, Prairie Vista Elementary School
• Maxwell MacMillan, 5th grade, Mary Frank Elementary School
• Anniston Steele, 7th grade, Grissom Middle School
• Ezra Carrico, Katherine Hawkins, Benjamin Robertson and Noah Rohde, all in 8th grade, Schmucker Middle School

Click here to see the playbill.

This isn’t the first year Penn’s musicals have included students from younger grades. In 2016, younger students also participated in “Mary Poppins.” But this is the first year in recent memory to have this many!

Visit bit.ly/PennMusicMan to purchase tickets.

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The National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA) named Penn Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates the 2024 National Coach of the Year!

Last February Coach Cates was named the 2023 Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year. In 2020, he became the State Director of NHSSCA for Indiana. In January 2022, Penn’s Strength and Conditioning program led by Coach Cates was awarded with a NHSSCA Program of Excellence School designation!

Coach Cates’ enthusiasm and dedication working with student-athletes has made him one of the most popular people at Penn High School. Coach Cates builds lasting relationships with students bringing out the best in them. He is a great motivator, making videos in 2021 to help students cope with the pandemic. Click to watch some of his videos on PHM’s TikTok account. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, he was one of the teachers who spoke at the Freshman Class Meeting welcoming 9th graders to Penn. He got the biggest round of applause, even from the freshmen! Click to see the pictures.

Cates was chosen from four finalists. The award is given each year to a high school Strength Coach based on their achievements and contributions to their school community. Click here for more information on the award.

Coach Cates will be honored this summer at the national conference in Dallas as NHSSCA’s 2024 National Coach of the Year!

The 2024 FIN Mishawaka FRC District Event will once again be held at Penn High School March 1st – 3rd (open to the public on Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3). The event will be held in Penn’s Main Arena. See below for a daily schedule:

Saturday, March 2

• 10:30 – 11:00 a.m., Opening Ceremonies
• 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Qualifying Matches (No matches during Lunch, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.)

Sunday, March 3

• 9:30 – 10:00 a.m., Opening Ceremonies
• 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Qualifying Matches
• 12:30 – 1:00 p.m., Alliance Selections
• 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., Lunch
• 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., Playoff Matches & Awards Ceremony

Click here for the detailed daily schedule.

For elementary aged children, there’s also the Next Gen event from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The event will be upstairs–above Penn’s Main Arena–in the Fitness Center. This event is open to all children, not just P-H-M students. Children have the opportunity to do hands-on STEM activities, even operate a robot! Click here for pictures from last year’s event.

This year’s game is CRESCENDO^SM presented by Haas; click here to view a video about the game. FIRST^© Robotics Competition teams will use their STEM skills and creative power to turn up the volume as they design, build, and program their robots for action-packed game play. Watch the game animation to inspire ideas.

During our 2023-2024 arts-inspired robotics season, FIRST^® IN SHOW^SM presented by Qualcomm, FIRST Robotics teams will celebrate the roles STEM skills play in the arts and design, and how these skills help build a world of endless possibilities for students. Click here to learn more about FIRST^® IN and the District event being held at Penn High School.

After 40 years with the Penn High School Football program, Hall of Famer Coach Cory Yeoman announced to Kingsmen student-athletes and assistant coaches this afternoon that he will be retiring as head coach and Penn teacher at the end of this school year.

In his address to the players and coaches, Coach Yeoman shared, “By far the best thing I have ever done as a coach or as a player is to surround myself with great people. You win with people! Thousands of people made this journey possible. Thank you to the Yeoman Family; for over 50 Years our Mom, wives and daughters have let us boys play and coach the game we love for the school we love.”

Coach Yeoman went on to say to his players, “I would like to thank the hundreds of tough Kingsmen players in the ‘long black line;’ I am so proud of you. I love you boys! It has been an honor being a member of ‘the long black line.’ It has been an honor to be one of ‘Gees’s boys.’ Go Penn Go!”

Click below to see a full photo gallery of Coach Yeoman.

Coach Yeoman spent his first 19 years as an Assistant Coach under Hall of Famer Coach Chris Geesman, and the past 21 years as Head Coach. Yeoman took over the Kingsmen program in 2003 and compiled a 208-56 record overall.

In his first season after replacing legendary Coach Geesman, Yeoman guided Penn to the 2003 State Championship Game. Yeoman also led Penn to Semi-state titles in 2017, 2015 and 2011. In addition to winning four Semi-state Championships, the Kingsmen have won nine regional crowns under Yeoman’s leadership, 13 sectional titles and 17 Northern Indiana Conference championships. 

“It’s hard to put into words what Coach Yeoman means to our school community. He’s been a staple of Penn High School for 40 years, as a student, a teacher, an assistant coach, and as our head football coach for 21 years,” said Penn Athletic Director Jeff Hart.

“More importantly, his unmatched legacy as a positive leader, mentor, and relationship-builder will be sorely missed in our building and beyond,” Hart continued.  “I’ve been fortunate to work closely with him for the last several years and I’ve seen up close his unique ability to have great success coaching with a servant’s heart while building lifelong relationships with staff and students. I’m blessed to call him a friend.”

Coach Yeoman bleeds black and gold and has always been a Kingsmen. He played for Penn, earning all-state honors at defensive tackle. In 1979, Coach Yeoman led a Kingsmen defense that only allowed 33 yards rushing a game. That Kingsmen team finished 11-1, winning an NIC Championship before losing to Hobart in the second round of the playoffs. Yeoman graduated from Penn in 1980. 

Coach Yeoman is in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame, the first Penn player nominated for the Hall.

“Coach Yeoman is a Kingsmen legend. He learned from the best [Coach Chris Geesman] and became the best,” said Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “Coach is highly respected across Indiana; and while we’ll miss him coaching on the sidelines, we know that he won’t be very far from Everwise Freed Field on Friday nights. Once a Kingsmen, always a Kingsmen!”

After his playing career at Penn, coach Yeoman played for Miami (Ohio) University. He was a roommate and teammate of the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl winning head coach, John Harbaugh. Yeoman joined the Kingsmen coaching staff after graduation from Miami, and has been on the Kingsmen sidelines for 40 seasons.

After Penn’s 28-7 victory against the Mishawaka Cavemen on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, Yeoman was named the Indianapolis Colts Indiana High School Coach of the Week. The victory against the archrival Cavemen also gave Yeoman his 200th career victory, making him only the second Kingsmen Football coach to reach that coveted plateau. 

Penn is now the only high school in Indiana to have two coaches meet this milestone. The first was longtime Kingsmen coach Chris Geesman (309 wins), who Coach Yeoman played under and coached with at the beginning of his career at Penn.

Yeoman is beloved and admired by his players and assistant coaches. He serves as a mentor to Penn students not only as a coach, but also as a Physical Education and Sports Performance teacher. Yeoman was also an Industrial Arts Teacher. Coach loves the interactions with students. For years, he’s assisted with Penn’s Commencements, helping line students up and assisting families whose children are being honored posthumously. Yeoman once said to a colleague “My favorite time of year is graduation; this is what it’s all about!”

Coach Yeoman’s last day will come at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Coach looks forward to spending time with his grandchild, wife and family, and of course cheering for the Kingsmen on Friday nights.

Penn-Harris-Madison will begin an immediate search for a new Kingsmen Head Football Coach; the announcement is to be determined at a later date.

Coaching Profile of Cory Yeoman:

40 Years Coaching at Penn High School, 425 – 79

• 504 Games Coached at Penn High School
• 1984 – 2023 Seasons 
• 1984 – 2002 Assistant Coach, 217 – 23
• 2003 – 2023 Head Coach, 208 – 56 

Championships

• 36 X Northern Indiana Conference
• 24 X Sectional
• 17 Regionals
• 11 Semi-State
• 7 State Runners-up
• 4 State Championships

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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.