Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation was named among the 2024’s Best Communities for Music Education (​BCME) in the country by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for the 11^th year in a row! P-H-M is among only 17 Indiana school districts, out of about 300, that made the list.

Now in its 25th year, the 2024 Best Communities for Music Education program has recognized 583 school districts and 135 schools across the country for the outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders and their support for music education as part of a well-rounded education for all children. This recognition celebrates and recognizes K-12 music teachers in school districts who found creative ways for the “show to carry on” despite schools moving online or to in-person settings where masks were required not only for student musicians and instruments.

In P-H-M elementary schools, music class is part of the regular curriculum following state standards. Students are instructed in both vocal and instrument classes. Beginning in 6th grade, P-H-M students at our three middle schools (Discovery, Schmucker and Grissom) have the opportunity to choose choir, orchestra or band as their music elective. Students at Discovery also have the option of choosing Piano Lab. Schools from elementary all the way up to Penn High School also perform musicals.

Penn High School offers the Fine Arts & Communication Academy as part of its unique academy structure. The seven academy design provides Penn students with relevant and meaningful coursework taught in smaller, supportive environments where each student is known well by his teacher and peers. Nearly a third of Penn’s total 3,500 students are enrolled in the Fine Arts Academy with the majority being involved with music programs, either Choir, Orchestra, Band or another music program.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, P-H-M answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas. Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music.

In a series of landmark studies by scientists and researchers at Northwestern University a link was found between students in community music programs and life-long academic success, including higher high school graduation rates and college attendance. In another study from the University, it was discovered that the benefits of early exposure to music education improves how the brain processes and assimilates sounds, a trait that lasts well into adulthood. Beyond the Northwestern research, other studies have indicated that music education lays the foundation for individual excellence in group settings, creative problem solving and flexibility in work situations, as well learning how to give and receive constructive criticism to excel.

Penn High School Pom/Dance Teams will be filling positions for the JV, Varsity, and Competition teams. Tryouts are open to current 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. If you are going to be a senior for the 2024-2025 season, you must make Varsity or higher. Seniors cannot be on a Junior Varsity team.

Tryout Dates:

• Monday, April 22: 6:30-8:30 p.m. – Main Arena at Penn
• Tuesday, April 23: 6:30-8:30 p.m. –  Main Arena at Penn
• Wednesday, April 24: 6:30-9:30 p.m. – Main Arena at Penn (Competition Tryouts)
• Thursday, April 25: 6:30-9:30 p.m. – Main Arena  at Penn (JV and Varsity Tryouts)

Each candidate will be given a unique number. Results will be posted of who makes which team using the unique numbers. Competition team results will be announced on Thursday morning via Instagram. JV and Varsity team results will be announced on Friday morning via Instagram.

The Poms coaches will be looking for the following qualities during tryouts: dance ability, showmanship, and technical skills (JV/Varsity: Turns, toe touches, and leaps). 

Technical skills will be an extremely important aspect of tryouts for the Competition Team. Candidates must be able to do:

• Triple and quad pirouette
• Toe touches/pop up toe touch
• Firebird
• Turning Disc
• Calypso
• Side leap
• Saut de chat
• Fouettes/ala Seconde Turns
• Aerials (front and side)
• Switch to tilt jump; switch to arabesque; switch to second
• Preferred skills: front walkovers

   

Dates & Information Sheet

• Staff: Cindi Minegar and Alison Minegar – Competition Coach (Season runs August-March)
• Lauren Jacobs – Varsity Coach (Season runs September-February)
• Leah Olsen – JV Coach (Season runs September – February

Penn Physicals: Physicals for the 2024-2025 school year must be dated after May 1, 2024, and will be due on Register My Athlete by the first day of Boot Camp (July 29, 2024), or when the Athletic Office opens registrations.

Register My Athlete:  Upon results of tryouts, you must register on Register My Athlete (once athletic office has it set up – we will notify all team members when it is up) and get all appropriate paperwork signed and in on that website.  We do not collect paperwork. Click here for information on how to setup a Register My Athlete account.

Boot Camp: BOOT CAMP IS MANDATORY FOR EACH TEAM

*Students will be responsible for their own sack lunches Monday – Wednesday

ATHLETIC GUIDELINES FOR TEAM EVENTS:  

Financial Obligations:

• Boot Camp will be run by guest choreographers along with coaches.
  • JV and Varsity camp fees are $110.00 per person.
  • Competition Boot Camp fees are $175.00 per person. Camp money is due on the first day, July 29, 2024.
• Competition team (only) will be an additional $145 on the first day of actual season rehearsal, Monday, August 5, 2024. This money will go towards team t-shirt, hair bow, shoes, tights, rhinestones, and earrings. We will order as a group.

   

• JV and Varsity team – new members will need:
• Tan tights
• Tan jazz shoes
• Accessories

We will order as a group.

TEAM FUNDRAISER

Elementary Camp (all teams involved in fundraiser):  June 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Report time is 12:30 p.m.)

First day:  wear black tank tops, shorts, and tennis shoes. Hair should be in a pony tail.

Competition team will have additional fund raisers for their season.

PARENT/STUDENT SIGNATURE PAGE

I, _____________________________________ have read all requirements and give my student, _________________________________ permission to audition for the Penn High School Dance/Pom Team.

Parent Signature:                                                                                                      Dancer Signature:                                                                                                      Date: _______________________________________

*This form must be handed into the coaches on the first day of tryouts, or student will NOT be allowed to participate.  Any questions, please contact: Cindi Minegar at cminegar@phm.k12.in.us    OR    Alison Minegar at aminegar@phm.k12.in.us                

At Grissom Middle School, the spirit of giving was in the air during the annual “Hoops for Riley” game. Students and teachers alike laced up their sneakers and took to the court for a thrilling basketball showdown, all in the name of raising funds for Riley Children's Hospital.

The gymnasium buzzed with excitement as the teams were announced: teachers on one side, students on the other. It was a clash of generations, with the teachers boasting experience and wisdom, while the students brought energy and agility to the game.

From the tip-off, it was clear that both teams were in it to win it. The teachers utilized their size and skill to their advantage, dominating the paint with authoritative rebounds, towering blocks and big time dunks. 

As the game progressed, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause with every basket scored. Adding to the atmosphere was the incredible talents of the cheerleaders and the band.

But beyond the fierce competition, the true spirit of Hoops for Riley shone through. With every donation made and t-shirt purchased, funds poured in to support the vital work of Riley Children's Hospital. The total money raised, including t-shirt sales, is expected to surpass the $1,000 mark, a testament to the generosity and compassion of the Grissom Middle School community.

In the end, as the final buzzer sounded, it was clear that everyone emerged as a winner. The teachers may have claimed victory on the court, but the real winners were the children benefiting from the funds raised for Riley Children's Hospital.

Below are the results from the ISSMA Middle School Festival held at Penn High School the weekend of March 16:
 

• Grissom 6th Grade Orchestra – Gold Rating
• Grissom 7th/8th Grade Orchestra – Gold Rating
• Grissom 6th Grade Band – Gold Rating
• Grissom 7th Grade Band – Silver Rating
• Grissom 8th Grade Band – Gold Rating
• Grissom Treble Choir – Gold Rating
• Grissom 7th/8th Grade girls Choir – Silver Rating 
   
• DMS Choir Solo and Ensemble – 27 Gold Rating, 1 Silver Rating, 1 piano Gold Rating
• DMS String Orchestra – Gold Rating
• DMS Honors Orchestra – Gold Rating
• DMS Bands, All 4 bands –  Gold Rating
• DMS Honors Band – Gold Rating with Distinction

   

• Schmucker 6th Grade Band – Gold Rating with Distinction
• Schmucker 7th Grade Band – Gold Rating
• Schmucker 8th Grade Band – Gold Rating with Distinction
• Schmucker 6th Grade Orchestra – Gold Rating with Distinction
• Schmucker 7th Grade Orchestra – Gold Rating with Distinction
• Schmucker 8th Grade Orchestra – Gold Rating with Distinction

While the Indianapolis area and south will experience 100% totality for the solar eclipse occurring on Monday, April 8, 2024, the St. Joseph County area will only experience 96%.

The Michiana area will start experiencing darkness at 1:53 p.m., lasting until 4:23 p.m., with 96% totality occurring at 3:09 p.m. and lasting just over 4 minutes.

Click to watch the video below and hear from P-H-M Digital Video Theater and Planetarium Director Melinda O'Malley as she shows us what to expect in our area.

Click here to see a Indiana Department of Natural Resources map of Indiana regions that will experience varying degrees of darkness.  Click here to also get more background information on the Great American Eclipse website.

Because the partial eclipse time is occurring around elementary school dismissal times and based on the recommendations of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the IDOE, P-H-M will have an eLearning day on April 8. Click here for more information on that decision.

Thanks to Old National Bank and P-H-M Education Foundation, all students will have a pair of eclipse glasses to use at home when watching the eclipse with their families. The glasses will be sent home the week of March 25 before P-H-M’s Spring Break.

DVT Director Mrs. O’Malley demonstrates how the eclipse glasses should be used.

P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker surprised another couple of teachers today letting them know that they were winners of the Spring 2024 Impact Awards. At Grissom, Assistant Principal Eric Spatt helped Dr. Thacker and a group of P-H-M Administrators surprise 6th grade teacher Ms. Natasha Bean. Click to see the full photo gallery below.

This round of P-H-M Impact Awards recognizes teachers with First Semester growth. While all P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success, the Impact Award shines the spotlight on educators who have helped their students achieve individual academic growth on their formative assessments over time. The first-ever Impact Awards were handed out in September 2023 and recognized the teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Ms. Bean is being recognized with an Impact award because she had the two highest class sections for growth in 6th grade reading!

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for these amazing teachers.

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
   

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.

Story Updated March 28^th, 2024

Click below to watch the recap of the inaugural class of Grissom Middle School’s Fourteen Under Fourteen!

Original Story Posted on Friday, February 23, 2024

This morning Grissom administration and special guests honored our school’s inaugural class of ”Fourteen Under 14.” Click to see the photo gallery below.

P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, Kate Lee, Executive Dir. of Education & Workforce at South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Dr. Jenny Sears, P-H-M Director of Student Support Services joined Principal Jen Sinclair in recognizing the students during a special breakfast before the start of school. The award is modeled after Michiana’s Forty Under 40 (of which several P-H-M leaders have been a part of), which is sponsored by the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The students were notified last week (Thursday, Feb. 15) by surprise announcements by Principal Sinclair. Click to see those photos.

The students were praised for their community involvement, student leadership, commitment to academics, entrepreneurial skills, and kindness towards others. Families of the award winners were on hand to celebrate as well. Students were given a crystal award to commemorate their achievement. 

Below is a list of the winners in alphabetical order, congratulations!

1. Briar Barrier
2. Sadie Charbonneau
3. Jenna Fair
4. Ethan Guzman
5. Nora Haab
6. Lali Juarez
7. Tate Mackiewicz
8. Anastashia Michael
9. Mari Powell
10. Dottie Pogue
11. Emily Schmidt
12. Anniston Steele *could not be present
13. Betty Smoker
14. Leyna Tropp

Football Cheerleading Tryouts will be Monday, March 25; Tuesday, March 26; and Wednesday, March 27 at Penn High School.

Those interested please email Coach Szweda for more information at rszweda@phm.k12.in.us.

Grissom Middle School held a Veterans Day celebration on Friday, November 10th, 2023, to honor and express gratitude to our veterans. The event was a heartfelt tribute to those who have served in the armed forces.

The ceremony featured a patriotic songs performed by the school's choir and orchestra, creating a fitting atmosphere for the occasion. Students and staff gathered in the school's cafeteria to pay their respects and recognize the sacrifices made by veterans.

During the event, veterans from the local community were invited to stand and be recognized.

The Veterans Day celebration at Grissom Middle School served as a meaningful opportunity for students to learn about and appreciate the sacrifices made by veterans and to express their gratitude.