What’s recently happened?
1,400 tickets were sold for Penn High School’s 2024 Prom at the South Bend Century Center. This year's theme was Hollywood Glamour, and students loved it — some saying it’s Penn’s best theme yet.
To fit the red carpet theme, there was a 360 photo booth — also known as a Glam-bot — offered to students. This, along with the rest of the venue being decorated with string lights and all things movie decor, created the perfect night to remember.
Announced towards the end of the evening, Penn Seniors Jayden Wang and Sydney Sencaj were named this year's Prom King and Queen. The announcement was then followed by a serenade from fellow Penn Senior Tess Kavadas.
Amid May every school year, every Penn junior enrolled in a U.S. history class has the opportunity to partake in arguably the most essential PHS experience of them all: Pennstock.
Pennstock bases itself on the historic Woodstock 1969, exploring the various aspects of the cultures and subcultures of that time.
Students could choose to perform onstage either through a musical performance or by giving a speech. If they chose not to perform, they also had the option to set up booths on similar topics — ones like the space race, the Cold War, or the American Indian Movement.
This event is an excellent venue for destress amidst the business of finals season.
“The singing is great. There were beautiful songs, and overall, the event is great,” said Student Logan Rice.
What’s coming up?
Penn Senior Lily Christianson has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium this summer.
From June 15 to June 23, Christianson will be competing in the 50-meter freestyle event, the 100-meter freestyle event, the 100-meter butterfly event, and the 200-meter individual medley event. If she makes it to the team, she will be heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics to compete against the rest of the world.
Also this summer, many Penn students will still be visiting the school on a daily basis.
Summer school is offered not only for students to make up for lost credit, but to also get ahead. Incoming freshmen are offered a summer physical education (PE) course to free up for electives, and Penn’s Early College Academy offers a summer Ivy Tech Community College speech class as well.
All kinds of athletic camps, visual arts camps, robotics camps, speech and debate camps, and media camps are also all taking place this summer, mostly in June.
Staff spotlight:
Penn Harris Madison (PHM)’s Secondary Teacher of the Year award was given to Penn alum and English 10 Teacher Jeremy Starkweather on May 9. He won this award due to his passion and dedication to his job.
Starkweather has been involved with the PHM corporation his entire life, attending Moran Elementary School, Grissom Middle School, and Penn before graduating from Indiana University South Bend.
Not only does Starkweather teach English 10, but he also teaches and coaches debate and does assistant coaching for Penn’s cross-country team. During the spring, he holds the title of official scorer for track meets and is vice president of the Penn Building Trades Board of Directors.
Starkweather is known for his positively humble attitude, which is why he thinks he won the Teacher of the Year award.
“I try to come into school every day with a smile and make the most out of the day. When my colleagues and students have a problem, they usually come to me and I will try to help out in any way that I can,” Starkweather said.
Early College Math Teacher Annie Eutsey, backs up his claim.
“He does a ton of stuff for the students; he definitely deserves it,” Eutsey said.
As a teacher and student favorite, Starkweather is sure to have made an impact on many students' lives, just like his former speech and debate coach, David Dutton, did for him.
Student spotlight:
The Penn theatre department is filled with exceptional performers, but the technological side of things is what brings it all together.
Sophomore Toby Prince is an essential part of Penn’s drama department, as he is the tech lesion in charge of costuming. He’s costumed every production put on at Penn in the two years he’s attended (not counting this spring's play, “The Phantom Tollbooth”).
“I really enjoy sewing and seeing a whole production coming together,” Prince said.
Prince has been performing with the Robinson Shakespeare Company at the University of Notre Dame since his fourth-grade year and has participated in several productions outside of the company on and off ever since.
Besides theatre, Prince has a rich history in the Michiana area. He’s a senior patrol leader for his Boy Scouts troop, a participant of Order of the Arrow, a counselor at Camp Tamarack, and plans on joining the Mishawaka Mayor's Youth Council.
At Penn specifically, Prince is enrolled in a majority of AP and honors courses and is involved in the Freshman Mentoring program.
After high school, Prince plans to take the world by storm. His heart is set on attending Drexel University in Philadelphia for a bachelor of science in fashion merchandising and a master's in business administration with an emphasis on supply chain management. After he graduates, he wishes to attend New York’s Parsons School of Design to achieve a master’s in professional studies in global fashion management.
