Grissom Middle School’s band program is poised for growth, thanks to a grant awarded by the PHM Education Foundation (PHMEF). Jennifer Turnblom, Executive Director of PHMEF, visited the school to present a check for $1,757.50 to music teacher Camille Roper for her “Embouchure Project.”

The grant will fund the purchase of embouchure and ear training skill-building tools designed to enhance students' progress in learning music. These tools will help students develop proper mouth shape, improve tone production, and strengthen audiation skills. By building these foundational skills, students will be better equipped to advance in their musical studies with greater confidence and accuracy.

This project reflects Grissom Middle School’s commitment to excellence in music education and providing students with the resources they need to succeed. Congratulations to Camille Roper and the Grissom Middle School band program, and thank you to PHMEF for supporting this impactful initiative!

Welcome to the Grissom Middle School Spell Bowl page! The Spell Bowl program is a proud tradition at Grissom, showcasing our students’ exceptional spelling abilities, dedication, and teamwork. Whether you’re a current participant, a parent, or an aspiring speller, this page has all the information you need about our program and its continued excellence.

About the Spell Bowl

Spell Bowl is a competitive academic event that challenges students to spell complex words. It’s a fantastic way for students to expand their vocabulary, sharpen their language skills, and develop discipline through focused study. Grissom’s Spell Bowl team has consistently demonstrated excellence, and recent years have been some of our strongest yet.

Highlights of Grissom’s 2024 Success

• State Champions: Grissom is proud to hold the title of Class 2 State Champion, a remarkable achievement that reflects the dedication and hard work of our students and coaches.
• Record-Breaking Scores: Our team has achieved unprecedented success, including a nearly perfect score of 67 out of 72 words at the state finals.
• This score represents the highest in Grissom’s history and underscores the team’s commitment to excellence.

Grissom’s success in the Spell Bowl is fueled by the dedication of our students, who invest countless hours studying challenging words, including terms like kaffeeklatsch, triskaidekaphobia, and antimacassar. Practices take place before school, after school, and even during breaks. This commitment, combined with support from teachers, parents, and the community, creates a winning formula year after year.

Perfect Spellers

Each season, several students achieve perfection in competition rounds. Their hard work and sharp focus are an inspiration to their teammates and a source of pride for the school.

A Community Effort

The Grissom Spell Bowl is made possible through the combined efforts of dedicated coaches, school staff, parent volunteers, and the broader Grissom community. From running practices to hosting competitions and providing meals at state events, everyone plays a role in the team’s success.

Get Involved

Interested in joining the Grissom Spell Bowl team or supporting the program? Whether you’re a student eager to compete or a parent ready to volunteer, we’d love to have you! Reach out to Coach Mr. Josh Kelver for more information.

On Wednesday, Nov. 6^th, our Guardsmen Spell Bowl team won the Class 2 State Championship for the first time in school history!!!

This is a major accomplishment for our students and team coach Mr. Josh Kelver.

On Saturday, Nov. 16^th, the team competed at Purdue University as one of the top thirty schools in the State. They competed outside of Class 2 in the state’s overall Spell Bowl Championship and came in 6^th place with a score of 67.

Season Notes:

Spell Bowl is in its 39th year of existence, and this is the strongest season our school has ever put forth, for which the students deserve a whole heck of a lot of credit!

Grissom is now the reigning Class 2 State Champion, which is significant. This season wasn’t all varsity, either. Our B team ranked 21st in the state at the Area Competition and 5th in our class.

At Purdue (the overall state championship where class doesn’t matter), Grissom ended the season ranking 6th in the entire state. That means we outscored 118 other teams this season.

*Our score at Purdue was 67/72 (only one team per school can spell at Purdue, so this was just our varsity squad), by far the highest score Grissom has ever gotten in competition. Only missing 5 words as a team is pretty wild. Just for reference, when Grissom Head Coach Mr. Kelver spelled at Purdue for Grissom Middle School, in 2002, he missed 5 words by himself. So to only miss 5 out of 72 words (words like kaffeeklatsch, soliloquy, kohlrabi, brougham, ballon d’essai, antimacassar, triskaidekaphobia, etc., etc.) is exceptional. Again, these kids worked hard this season, studying before, during, and after school, on weekends, on Fall Break, over the summer, just nonstop. 

We had many perfect spellers this season. At the Area Competition, Matthew Doughty and Ellie Schwalbe both got 9/9 words right. And at Purdue, it was Seth Hayden, Ellie Schwalbe, Mia McConnell, Viktor Yoder, and Matthew Doughty. Riley Hoover was near perfect at Purdue with 8/9.

Mr. Kelver is very grateful to the students, staff, and parents who helped facilitate the season. Thanks to Bri Adams, Natasha Bean, Laura Furfaro, Brian Loring, Cami Roper, Emily Shreve, and Vickie Marshall for letting me poach from your advisory so much this fall.

Thank you to Karen Barcome, Julie Lis, Ashley Kelver, Nick Paliga, Stephanie Hochstetler, Jen Sinclair, Laura Furfaro (again), Kyle Sagarsee, Eric Spatt, Robbie Gingrich, and Braden Black for your help hosting the Area Competition.

Thanks to PTO for running the concession stand and for feeding our students at Purdue.

Thanks to all the adults at home who got students to and from practice, provided snacks, and helped students in myriad other ways throughout the season.

And thanks most of all to the team, who were a joy to work with.

Penn High School’s exceptional learning opportunities and programs will be on display for prospective and current students at the 2024 Penn High School Showcase, 6-8 p.m., Monday, Dec. 2nd (Snow Date Tuesday, Dec. 3rd).
 

Penn is a recipient of the Indiana Department of Education in College Readiness Award and is ranked No. 1 in Indiana for students earning College Credentials.

Incoming Freshman click here for additional details.

Sophomore Scheduling information click here.
 

The Showcase allows incoming Freshmen (current Eighth Graders) and prospective move-ins, along with their families, to have the opportunity to tour Penn, meet with staff and students, and hear about the all the college and career readiness opportunities Penn offers through its eight Academies.

All prospective Penn students and current Penn 9-11 graders and their families are welcome to join us to learn about classes and clubs they can look forward as Penn students. Penn High School is filled with so many opportunities that the choices can be overwhelming. This is a great time to speak to teachers and current students about course options. Some classes will be available to see live in action!

Besides the Live Classrooms, students and parents are encouraged to visit the Academy booths, which will be set up around the building, to gain information into the Academy structure at Penn High School.

Teachers representing both Academy and elective classes will be available to answer questions and provide information. We will have representatives of the Early College Academy, Exceptional Education and the Elkhart Area Career Center. We will also have tables with club representatives set up in the Sunshine Hallway. Stop by to see the many club and extracurricular activities available to Penn students. If you have any questions about courses, scheduling, or graduation requirements, Penn counselors will also be on hand to meet with students/families.

Your involvement in your child’s education is vital to making their high school experience a positive one. We value your participation in decisions related to planning your child’s class schedule. A collaborative effort between parents, students, teachers and counselors is essential and represents P-H-M’s “Triangle of Success!”

Incoming Freshman click here for additional details.

Sophomore Scheduling information click here.

This year's “Short Hair Because We Care” will hold a hair donation event for the Children With Hair Loss organization will be held Saturday, November 16 at Penn High School's Studio Theater.

Anyone in the community can donate their hair, but the minimum is 8 inches of hair. Hair that is colored and permed is accepted. Local professional hair stylists will be donating their time to cut volunteers hair for free. Because this is for hair donation, the service provided is just a simple cut, no style.

This event was started in 2019-2020 school year by a group of 7th grade Grissom Middle School students, one of which was Ella Smoker, Valedictorian Class of 2024.

“It started as something that students could give, that wouldn’t be money or something they wouldn’t have control over being young students, but everyone can donate their hair, so that’s why we started it: to give everyone an opportunity to serve even if they don’t have other resources,” said Smoker. Click to see the WNDU-TV's story.

Last year, 33 people donated a total of 334 inches (click to see photos)! Donate this year and help beat last year's totals!

If you're interested in donating, click here to sign up using the Google form.

Email shbwcphs@gmail.com with questions, and follow the group on Instagram at @shbwc_phs. 

If you can't make it to the event or don't have enough hair to donate, you can still help out by donating directly to Children With Hair Loss.

Children With Hair Loss is a nonprofit organization that provides hair replacements at no cost to children or young adults facing hair loss at no cost. Whatever the cause, hair loss can have effects that go deeper than cosmetics. Providing this hair is how this organization gives back to the community. You can help us give back to your community and the children facing hair loss by donating your hair or simply spreading the word about the event to everyone! 

Today the IDOE announced the recipients of the K-12 Robotics Competition Grants and 15 Penn-Harris-Madison robotics teams from eight P-H-M schools were awarded a total grant of $53,600! 

• Penn High School (2 existing teams) – $14,000
• Grissom Middle School (2 existing teams) – $5,000
• Bittersweet Elementary School (1 new team) – $3,175
• Elm Road Elementary School (2 existing teams) – $6,137.50
• Horizon Elementary School (2 existing teams) -$6,137.50
• Meadows Edge Elementary School (1 new team) – $3,175
• Northpoint Elementary School (4 new teams) – $12,800
• Walt Disney Elementary School (1 new team) – $3,175

For all teams, existing and new teams, the grant pays for coaching stipends, team registration, competition registration, game specific materials, and supplies for building competition robots. Funds can also be used for transportation to events. 

For existing teams, most of their supplies will be updating and replacing used parts, tools, storage, and new parts needed for the new game. New teams’ supplies will be start-up kits, tools, storage, and game specific parts. 

The P-H-M proposal was selected from more than 145 grant proposals submitted for this funding opportunity, 137 school corporations and non-profit groups were ultimately chosen. The IDOE review team was impressed with P-H-M’s plan to design, construct, program, and participate in competitions with the goal of increasing Indiana student interest in STEM.

This grant removes barriers for schools and gives students opportunities to excel. It also creates a P-H-M pipeline of future Kingsmen robotics students with experience and excitement about robotics. Ultimately this opportunity gives students more STEM co-curricular experiences and broadens their horizons for future careers.

It’s “College Go Week” across Indiana this week and here at Grissom, we have found plenty of unique ways to prepare our students for future success. Click to see the full photo gallery below.

An important life skill for boys and girls to know is how to tie a necktie. This will help students “dress for success” in all sorts of formal functions.

“College GO!” is dedicated to helping Hoosier students find the right college to fit their personalities and interests and is part of Learn More Indiana.

We’d like to thank the respected members of the community for stopping by to help our Guardsmen tie a tie. View photos from this morning in the gallery below!

On Sunday, September 8, the Michiana community joined Penn and P-H-M in giving Olympic Gold Medalist Sarah Hildebrandt a Heroine’s Welcome!

Before Sarah’s “Welcome Home” kicked off, the local media got some one-on-one time with Sarah, her parents, and Penn Head Wrestling Coach Brad Harper during a news conference. Coach Harper was Sarah’s wrestling coach when she was at Penn; he became her personal coach and coached her at the Tokyo Olympics wear she won Bronze. Coach Harper planned this special homecoming for Sarah. 

After the parade was over, hundreds gathered at Urban Swirl in Granger for an Olympic Celebration emceed by Mark McGill. A representative from Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood’s office read a proclamation declaring September 8th as Sarah Hildebrandt Day! U.S. Congressman Rudy Yakym read the historical entry on Sarah’s Olympic achievement that he will be submitting to the official U.S. Congressional Record.

Grateful for all the love and support that her hometown gave her, Sarah graciously took hundreds of pictures with all of her adoring fans. She also signed hundreds of autographs on posters, shirts, singlets, wrestling shoes and even foreheads! 

Click to see the full photo gallery on P-H-M’s website.

Grissom Middle School was recognized at the third annual Indiana Educational Excellence Awards Gala held in Indianapolis on Friday, September 6. Grissom won the Excellence in Academic Gains Award.

This prestigious award comes with a grant of $177,000! Schools must use the grant funds as indicated by the IDOE to continue the amazing work that the school was doing to earn the recognition; or choose to spend the money on projects related to any of the Educational Excellence Awards categories.

The Excellence in Academic Gains Award recognizes an individual school that has made the most progress in improving achievement for all students. One or more of the following must be demonstrated by the award recipient:

• increased academic achievement for students as indicated by ILEARN English/language arts/Mathematics assessment results
• prioritization of initiatives focused on accelerating learning
• implementation of progress monitoring and evidenced-based practices for students in need of extra support

On hand for Grissom’s award recognition at the Gala were P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, Principal Jenn Sinclair, Assistant Principals Eric Spatt and Greg Stover, Director of Student Services Dr. Jenny Sears, and 8th grade ELA teacher Josh Kelver.

The IDOE Excellence Gala also shown the spotlight on the finalists for the 2024 Indiana Teacher of the Year, Indiana’s 2023 Milken Educator Award recipients, and other dedicated educators from across the state.

Walt Disney Music teacher Robi Davidson was among the Top 10 Finalists for Indiana Teacher of the Year.

A Penn-Harris-Madison school has either won or been recognized at the Indiana Department of Education an Educational Excellence Award since it’s inception in 2022:

• Fall 2023, Penn High School was recognized with the Excellence in College Readiness Award and received a $250,000 grant from the IDOE! 
• In 2022, then Walt Disney Principal Ryan Towner was recognized as Indiana’s 2021-2022 Milken Award winner. Principal Towner was also recognized at the 2023 event as the Milken Award winner.
• Also in 2022, teacher Amanda Fox was recognized as Indiana's finalist for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Mrs. Fox was also recognized at the 2023 Gala for being a Top 10 Finalist for Teacher of the Year.