What’s recently happened?
This past week at Penn High School was Homecoming week. The week was full of fun attire and special events that all led up to the Homecoming King and Queen announcement on Friday at the halftime of the football game.
Monday was “Beach Day,” and many students came to school wearing bright Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. On Tuesday, students and staff were supposed to dress like they were going to a concert or were a musician. Wednesday was “Wear Your Favorite Jersey Day,” and Thursday was “Decades Day.” Friday concluded the week with “Neon Day.”
Friday, September 29, saw the Homecoming parade, fun zone, food trucks, and the Penn varsity football game. The parade began at 5:30 p.m., but students were encouraged to arrive by 5 p.m.
Penn Freshman Ryan Hall was in the parade for the first time; he has seen the parade before but from afar. This year, he got the great experience of taking part in the parade and waving to everyone watching.
“You get to see a different side of things. I’ve spent my whole life watching parades from the side of the street, on the sidewalks and sitting on a lawn chair. Now I’m in the parade, and I’m waving to people, I’m waving to my own family. It was great,” Hall said.
The fun zone took place from 5-7 p.m. at the Penn Baseball Field. There were teacher dunk tanks and bounce houses for the little kids. There were also food trucks around the stadium, and fans were allowed to bring food that they purchased there into the stadium.
Families were welcome to enjoy the fun zone until around 7 p.m. and then head to the game against St. Joseph High School, which was set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
The Penn Pep Rally began on Friday during the school day during the last block of the day. On Friday, all blocks were shortened for the pep rally. All students were sent to the Penn main arena, where the basketball and volleyball courts are, and they filled the house for the celebration.
This was a moment to introduce and congratulate the members in the Homecoming Court and also a way to motivate the football team as it was preparing for its big game against St. Joseph High School.
Many students covered the halls dressing themselves with the themes of the day, and students packed the stands for the football game. Homecoming week at Penn High School was a success.
What’s coming up?
The Penn Boys Soccer team has beaten Chesterton High School (2-1), and John Adams High School (3-1) and have placed in the Sectional Finals. The Sectional Final game will be played on Saturday, October 7, at 2 p.m. Penn will be facing La Porte High School at Riley High School’s soccer fields at Jackson Intermediate School.
The Kingsmen have one practice before their final game of Sectionals. This is a very important game for the Kingsmen. If they are Sectional Champions, they will be competing for the Regional title at their home fields.
Preparations begin at the first practice the day before the game. Over the season, the Kingsmen have figured out ways to better prepare for their games and also are learning how to play for each other, united as one.
The Kingsmen cannot underestimate their opponent. Last time these two teams met was at the beginning of this fall season, a preseason matchup where the Kingsmen took the win 10-1. This will be a totally different game; both teams will be locked and ready to compete.
Daniel Contreras, senior midfielder for the Kingsmen, believes that mentality will be key for the team to succeed on Saturday.
“We are mostly preparing mentally. They have really good players. We have to come up with a way to block them from the game. We cannot be cocky because then we will not play like we want to and need to. That is why the most important thing for this game is to be in the right mentality,” Contreras said.
The Kingsmen have been through a lot this season already, with many ups and downs. They have learned a lot together, and they have experienced both sad and incredible moments.
What will allow the team to play its best this upcoming Saturday is if everyone plays as one and as a family, fighting for each other out on the battlefield from the first whistle to the very last.
Staff spotlight:
On a beautiful Sunday in September, English Teacher Kevin McNulty was enjoying a smooth bike ride. He was three doors away from his house when suddenly thirst struck and he reached for his Gatorade bottle and began drinking.
Right away, even though he was so close to arriving home and reaching the end of his ride, he felt the need to know what his mileage was. This need led him to take his free hand off the handlebar and look at his watch.
At that moment he lost his balance and crashed onto the cement, breaking his collarbone.
“In my fracture it totally separated; the bone broke. When you look at your clavicle, it's a bone that extends to your shoulder, and that just snapped. One bone went up and the other went down,” McNulty said.
McNulty’s neighbor immediately came out to see what had happened. McNulty knew once he tried to get up that he had broken something. Everything to him was a blur. When he fell, he first hit his shoulder and then his head, but thankfully he was wearing a helmet, so there was no damage done to his head. The details about the fall came back to him later in pieces.
“I remember it coming back to me in my memories. The first time I remembered it, I didn’t remember that I was riding with no hands. Then in later memories, I remembered that I was drinking Gatorade with one hand and looking at my watch with the other, and that’s why I went down,” McNulty said.
Now McNulty is back teaching, but this time with a sling. He is learning to write with his left (non-dominant) hand and is doing pretty well.
This accident is a lesson not only for McNulty himself but also for his students. Every time this story is shared or mentioned again, everyone will remember one important thing: whenever you are out riding your bike, always make sure to have both hands on the handlebars.
Student spotlight:
Noé Ferreira is a junior at Penn High School and plays for the Boys Varsity Soccer team. Ferreira plays as a striker and also enjoys playing in the middle. He eagerly waited for the upcoming junior season to begin.
As the months went by, through hard summer practices and a week of tryouts right before the season, the team looked promising with many leaders and talent, but the team did not start the season at its best. To make matters worse, Ferreira suffered a high ankle sprain on the team's third regular season game.
“As soon as I came out of the tackle and wasn’t able to put my foot on the ground, I realized that this wasn’t just any injury. At halftime, I even tried to warm back up and put my foot on the ground because I really wanted to play, but it was of no use. I hate getting injured. No one wants to stay off the soccer field, so when I found out that I wasn’t going to be playing for a while, it was really hard,” Ferreira said.
Ferreira went to the doctor to find out what exactly was wrong with his ankle. He found out that he had suffered a high ankle sprain and that he was to rest for four weeks. Ferreira was faced with a hard challenge. He missed a month of practices and games. He was eager to play his junior season and now had to wait and recover to be able to play.
Ferreira had to rely on the only true source of strength that could get him through that challenging time.
“Throughout the month that I sat out, I relied on God, and He gave me peace and encouraged me to keep going and showing up every day to practices even though I wasn’t playing or training,” Ferreira said.
After a month out, Ferreira returned to the field at St. Joseph High School and scored the only goal to give the Penn Kingsmen the win. He injured his ankle again during that game, and he had to sit out another practice.
He is back playing for Sectionals and now plays with his left ankle taped for support. He is supporting the team and will finish his junior season strong.