On July 22^nd, the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees approved the $10,000 gift from School Superintendent Dr. and Mrs. Thacker to the P-H-M Education Foundation Naming Rights Campaign to name the field at Penn High School’s Jordan Automotive Baseball Stadium as the Greg Dikos Field.

This makes the fifth donation Dr. and Mrs. Thacker have made as part of the Naming Rights Campaign, recognizing the contributions P-H-M employees have made to the community:

1. Chris Geesman Kingsmen Athletic Center (formerly the Kingsmen Athletic Center), $25,000 donated in December 2021 ($5,000 per year over five years, for an overall period of 12 years)
2. Al Rhodes Kingsmen Court, $10,000 donated in October 2023 
3. Arthur M. Klinger Planetarium (formerly the  P-H-M DVT & Planetarium), $10,000 donated in January 2024
4. Yeoman Family Plaza, $10,000 donated in March 2024 
5. Greg Dikos Field, $10,000 donated in August 2024 

Dr. Thacker has been superintendent of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation since 2006 and has supported the Education Foundation wholeheartedly. Over the course of 18 years, Dr. and Mrs. Thacker have donated $232,500 to the P-H-M Education Foundation, including this most recent donation of the naming rights. Most of this money has either been unrestricted donations or used as matching funds for fundraising initiatives.

Coach Dikos owns an 839-298 record in 37 seasons.

Penn has won six State Championships during Dikos’ tenure as head coach: 1994, 1998, 2001, 2015, 2022 and 2023. Coach Dikos has also led Penn to seven Semi-State Championships, 13 Regional Championships, 21 Sectional Championships and 22 Northern Indiana Conference Championships.

A graduate of Swartz Creek High School (Mich.) and Ball State University, Coach Dikos was selected by the Atlanta Braves as a third baseman in the 1979 Major League Baseball Draft in the 31st round. Coach Dikos was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Per PHMEF’s Naming Rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation will go into the Foundation’s endowment, which will in turn provide alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing the education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.

The mission of the Education Foundation is to develop alternative sources of income to support education initiatives in the School Corporation by strengthening partnerships between the community and the District. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

On Monday, June 3, 2024, Penn High School held our 65th Commencement. The ceremony was held at the University of Notre Dame. The Class of 2024 is made up of approximately 854 students. It was a wonderful time to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of ALL of our graduates!

Click here to to visit Penn’s website for the full photo gallery of pictures taken by P-H-M’s Communications Department. The pictures can be downloaded for FREE! The official photos of every graduate were taken by InterState Photography and are available for purchase. Please refer to the Senior Parent Communications for the link and password.

The full ceremony was livestreamed and has been archived on the Penn Harris Madison YouTube channel. You can watch it below. This is the direct link: https://youtube.com/live/5gWg5mbUuqc

Click here to download a copy of the Commencement Program.

Click to see video and pictures of some of the Senior Parades that took place Thursday, May 30th and Friday, May 31st.

Highlights from the Class 0f 2024 include:

• nearly $16 million in scholarships
• 442 earned Academic Honors diplomas
• 325 earned High Honors diplomas
• 72 earned Technical Honors diplomas
• 119 Early College Academy students
  • 113 earned a credential through Ivy Tech Community College
  • 98 earned an Associate’s Degree from Ivy Tech 
• 21 Valedictorians
• 4 Salutatorians

Click here for more information about the Class of 2024.

Penn High School will hold it’s 65^th Commencement at the University of Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion on Monday, June 3, 2024, 7:00 p.m. 

There is no ticket requirement—meaning families are not limited on the amount of attendees. A livestream of Commencement will again be provided to friends and family not in attendance.

All Families have to do is click here to go to Penn’s website, Monday, June 3, 2024 by 7:00 p.m. 

Share this link with family and friends who want to watch:  https://penn.phmschools.org/2024-penn-commencement-livestream/

The livestream will start approximately 30 minutes before the ceremony begins.

The last Teacher Impact Award of the school year was handed out this morning at Northpoint Elementary to 3^rd grade teacher Kori Woods.

With the help of Principal Lorraine White, Dr. Thacker, along with Assistant Superintendent Dr. Heather Short, Director of Professional Development and Student Learning Dr. Lavon Dean-Null, and Director of Literacy and Title I Ryan Towner surprised Mrs. Woods in class with the award.

Impact Awards  are given to teachers who had the most significant individual student growth with DIBLES, ILEARN, and SAT assessments for Spring 2024.

Mrs. Woods had the district’s highest student growth in 3rd grade on ILEARN ELA! P-H-M’s 2024 Elementary Teacher of the Year 3^rd grade teacher Nichol Mondy is right next door, so she stopped in to congratulate Mrs. Woods. Congratulations to Mrs. Woods and her students! Click to see the full photo gallery on Northpoint’s website.

Other teachers who received Spring 2024 Impact Awards include:

• Sherri Potts (Kindergarten, Bittersweet Elementary) had the highest DIBELS composite growth. (click to see the photo gallery on Bittersweet’s website)
• Heidi Tornquist’s 2^nd grade students at Elm Road had the highest DIBELS composite growth among all second graders in the district! (see the full photo gallery on Elm Road’s website)
• Katie French’s 3^rd grade class at Meadow’s Edge had the highest growth in Math scores among all six of P-H-M’s Title I schools! (see the full photo gallery on Meadow’s Edge website)
• Kristie Reynolds’ Walt Disney 5th graders had the highest growth in Math among all 5th grades at P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools! (see the full photo gallery on Walt Disney’s website)
• Monicah Fratena (Schmucker, 7^th grade Language Arts) had two class sections with the highest student growth on ILEARN in 7th grade Language Arts, as well as four out of the top eight sections. (click to see the photo gallery on Schmucker’s website)
• Gianna Keim (Discovery, 6^th & 7^th grade Math) had the highest growth in middle school math. (click to see the photo gallery on Discovery’s website)
• Candice Beelaert, Penn High School, SAT – Growth in English (click to see the photo gallery on Penn’s website)
• Rebecca Horvath, Penn High School, SAT – Growth in Math ​(click to see the photo gallery on Penn’s website)

As this school year comes to a close we want to thank all our teachers and students for their commitment to academic excellence this school year. The hard work really paid off!

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for purchasing the beautiful crystal awards given to the teacher award recipients.

Schmucker 8th grade Language Arts teacher Mrs. Brianne Roy got quite a surprise this afternoon when Executive Director of P-H-M Education Foundation Jennifer Turnblom, PHMEF Donor & P-H-M parent Darla Lippert, and Schmucker Middle School Principal Sarah Smith all walked in the middle of her teaching her last block class.

They were there to let her know that she had chosen as the 2024 Jeneane Arter Award winner; and she won $2,000 to use how she wants!

The P-H-M Education Foundation administers the Jeneane Arter Teaching in Excellence Award.

The award is underwritten by P-H-M parents Jason and Darla Lippert and is named after Northpoint Elementary School teacher Jeneane Arter.

What makes this award so special is that students submit the nomination. It can be for any current P-H-M staff member. Students submit a one page essay describing how their nominee exemplifies excellence in education. This year PHMEF received 64 nominations from students. Mrs. Roy received nine nominations for the impact she has on her students through her classroom organization, encouraging nature and genuine care for her students!

Congratulations Mrs. Roy!

P-H-M’s annual Employee Recognition and Retiree Dinner was held Wednesday, May 22. While not all were present, the Corporation as a whole honored P-H-M’s Teachers of the Years, Employee of the Year, retirees, and employees who’ve been with P-H-M for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years. Click these links to view the dinner program, photo gallery and videos of the TOYs and EOY.

Retiring Human Resources Director Dr. Lisa Soto-Kile served as Master of Ceremonies. Soon-to-be Human Resources Director Bob Thompson gave the innovation. Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and Mr. Thompson honored this year’s retirees in attendance by giving them a commemorative engraved clock. To read the full list of this year’s retirees and employees honored for their years of service with P-H-M, click here to view the dinner program.

Dr. Thacker recognized the Elementary Teacher of the Year Northpoint’s Nichol Mondy, Secondary Teacher of the Year Penn’s Jeremy Starkweather, and Employee of the Year Schmucker’s Brenda Speedy. As part of the recognitions for Mrs. Mondy and Mr. Starkweather, P-H-M Education Foundation Executive Director Jennifer Turnblom gave each teacher a $1,000 grant from the P-H-M Education Foundation to use in their classrooms. Mrs. Speedy received a gift certificate.

Board of School Trustees Vice President Ryan McCullough, Secretary Clare Roach, and Board Member Dana Sullivan were also on hand to applaud and congratulate employees for their honors. 

The dinner was generously sponsored by Everwise Credit Union and the P-H-M Education Foundation. 

Click to watch the videos below about Mrs. Mondy, Mr. Starkweather and Mrs. Speedy.

View the photo gallery below of those who attended the dinner. If you want a high resolution copy of any photo, just click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. 

It’s widely known that there’s a national teacher shortage. In Indiana, it’s been reported that there are around 2,000 teacher vacancies across the state.

Encouraging high school students with an interest in children and education to become teachers is one way we can help widen the teacher shortage gap.

Under Penn High School’s Family and Consumer Sciences program, students who are interested in pursuing a career in education can take several courses, such as Early Childhood Education and Cadet Teaching.

Click here to see Penn’s full Program of Studies.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2024, a special event was held for 13 Penn students who plan to become teachers. Patterned after College Signing Day what student-athletes do to declare their intentions on playing for a particular school, the Penn students donned their college of choice t-shirt and signed their intentions to major in Education with proud parents in the audience. We also asked the students to invite their favorite P-H-M teachers.

Click here to see a full photo gallery on Penn’s website.

1. Brooklin Kline: Indiana University South Bend, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Kylee Wetzel, Penn High School
    
2. Sarah Gentry: Purdue University, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teachers: Mrs. Sherri Potts, Mrs. Cassie Scarsella, Mr. Jason Pikuza, Bittersweet Elementary; Mr. Steven Sanders, Penn High School
    
3. Gretchen Moore: Indiana University Bloomington, Secondary Special Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Bonnie Manningham, Penn High School
    
4. Kaitlyn Vargo: Indiana University South Bend, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Rachael Meyers, Penn High School
    
5. Molly Knight: Ball State University, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mr. John Hedrick, Discovery Middle School
    
6. Brianna Magnuson: Holy Cross College, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher Mrs. Rachael Meyers, Penn High School
    
7. Emma Szymanski: University of Kentucky, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Anna King, Mary Frank Elementary
    
8. Payton Johnson: Indiana University South Bend, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Rachael Meyers, Penn High School
    
9. Samantha Fecteau: Ball State University, Elementary Education
   Favorite Teacher: Miss Anne Napoli, Penn High School
    
10. Caitlynn Fischer, IUSB, Elementary Education
    Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Stephanie Betzer, Moran Elementary
     
11. Ellie Stabnick, University of Tampa, Elementary Education
    Favorite Teacher: Mrs. Ally Starkweather, Penn High School
     
12. Xavier Browning, Purdue University, Secondary Education
    Favorite Teacher: Mr. Kyle Marsh, Penn High School
     
13. Brandon Mueller, Indiana State, Secondary Education
    Favorite Teacher: Mr. Jeremy Starkweather, Penn High School

Good luck to these students and we hope to see these faces again when they come back to Penn-Harris-Madison to teach!

Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker started handing out the third and final round of district Impact Awards on Wednesday, May 22. The awards were given to teachers who had the most significant individual student growth with DIBLES, ILEARN, and SAT assessments for Spring 2024.

Dr. Thacker, along with Assistant Superintendent Dr. Heather Short, Director of Professional Development and Student Learning, visited four schools to five surprise teachers letting them know that they were the latest winners:

• Candice Beelaert, Penn High School, SAT – Growth in English (click to see the photo gallery on Penn’s website)
• Rebecca Horvath, Penn High School, SAT – Growth in Math ​(click to see the photo gallery on Penn’s website)
• Monicah Fratena (Schmucker, 7^th grade Language Arts) had two class sections with the highest student growth on ILEARN in 7th grade Language Arts, as well as four out of the top eight sections. (click to see the photo gallery on Schmucker’s website)
• Gianna Keim (Discovery, 6^th & 7^th grade Math) had the highest growth in middle school math. (click to see the photo gallery on Discovery’s website)
• Sherri Potts (Kindergarten, Bittersweet Elementary) had the highest DIBELS composite growth. (click to see the photo gallery on Bittersweet’s website)

As this school year comes to a close we want to thank all our teachers and students for their commitment to academic excellence this school year. The hard work really paid off!

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for purchasing the beautiful crystal awards given to the teacher award recipients.