What’s recently happened?
The Engineering Design and Development class at Penn High School counts as dual enrollment with the Tech 1200 class at Purdue University. Each year, every student enrolled in the college class is tasked to identify and try to come up with a solution to a major engineering challenge at the Design and Development Competition. Only one high school team competes, and this year was the first time high schoolers have ever placed in the challenge and the first time high schoolers have ever taken first.
A group of six seniors at Penn made up the high school team selected this year, and they decided to design a knee brace for student-athletes as an alternative or enhancement or physical therapy.
Seniors Joel Benavides, William Getter, John Isacson, Nate Temeles, Noah Langness, and Max Hazen took home $5,000 in scholarship money. Engineering Technology Teacher Kyle Marsh has led the team for the last four years.
“It’s really easy for somebody to say, ‘Hey, here’s this problem,’ but to say, ‘Not only do I see the problem, but this problem is seen by a bunch of people, and it’s worth solving,’ that’s a really difficult task,” Marsh said.
On top of the initial decision of which topic to tackle, the team conducted interviews and literature reviews to create a presentation to take to the competition, eventually blowing away the judges.
A brand video board has been placed in the main arena at Penn. The jumbotron will be used to showcase upcoming Penn sports events, activities around the school, and video with a scoreboard during live games. It will additionally feature a sports minute from the sports journalism classes at the school which discuss everything about the high school sports world.
In other athletic advancements, a new form of training has been introduced to Kingsmen athletes. A SHREDmill is a specific type of treadmill designed for sprinting which features a curved belt that allows athletes to move manually without power. These machines assist in the coordination and agility of users, allowing benefit to every sport.
“This is for every single athlete in the school,” Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates said. “It's not just for football. It's not just for baseball. Every athlete in the world needs this.”
The corporation purchased two of these machines to allow students to train even in the harsh conditions that come from an Indiana winter.
What’s coming up?
While the personnel of Penn rest up over this winter break, the school awaits its return on Jan. 6. Two weeks will pass, one for review and one for finals, before the turn of the semester on Jan. 17.
After nearly a decade's wait, Penn brings back the once-annual talent show. On Jan. 23, three of up to 15 acts consisting of both students and staff who perform in front of a panel of judges and a local celebrity guest will win a prize.
“The purpose of the talent show is for students to show the world what they’re good at,” Talent Show Sponsor and Science Teacher Andrew Warner said.
Performances of dance, music, skits, comedy, and anything else participants desire will be allowed to audition for the talent show.
Boys Track and Field Head Coach Chad Wetzel has accepted a new role following the retirement of 30-year Boys Cross Country Coach Tom Miller earlier this year. Previously an assistant cross country coach to Miller, Wetzel also has experience coaching at Riley High School in South Bend from 2002 to 2020.
“I’m truly honored to be the next Penn Boys Cross Country coach and continue to pursue the high standards that this program has had for many years,” Wetzel said.
With his prior knowledge as to how the Penn team operates Wetzel is tasked to replicate the team's 2024 season, where Penn took 13th at the IHSAA State Finals.
As both Boys and Girls Track and Field conditioning has ramped up, Unified Track and Field prepares to start soon as well. On Jan. 15 there will be an informational meeting about the sport and its goal of joining people both with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. Conditioning for the sport ramps up in early February.
Before the Boys Varsity Basketball game against Valparaiso on Jan. 11, the Penn Dance Team is offering its annual winter clinic, an event where children aged preschool to eighth grade learn a dance and perform it during halftime. The event is $40 for preschoolers and kindergarteners and $50 for children in first to eighth grade. Registration is due Jan. 7.
Staff spotlight:
Every morning is an early morning for Spanish Teacher Kelly Truman as she arrives in her classroom between 6:45 and 7 a.m. This year is her 12th in education after graduating from Ball State University.
After a tough decision between psychology and education during her sophomore year of college, Truman has taught Spanish I, II, III, and III accelerated over the years. Her love of learning the language was strengthened when she went on a mission trip to Honduras and wasn’t able to communicate the way she wanted to. This led to two periods of study abroad and her pursuing a master’s degree in Spanish Education.
“At this point in my life, I couldn’t ever imagine myself doing anything else and I’m hopeful that my students can see each day, too, how much I love being there with them,” Truman said.
With one child and another on the way, she maintains this early-bird schedule to fulfill her work-life balance, along with not allowing herself to check her work email at home. She spends this time away from Penn to enjoy watching sports such as basketball and football, reading, listening to podcasts, and traveling – trying her best to not overwhelm herself.
“During my first few years teaching, I had no life other than my job and would work all day, then come home and work until I fell asleep,” she said. “I tend to be a work perfectionist and want every activity to be perfect, so reminding myself that doing my best is enough and I can’t be perfect all the time is something that I have to do a lot.”
Truman’s dedication to teaching Spanish is evident nonetheless, and she claims the reward of watching students grasp difficult concepts makes up for the struggle.
“Language learning is a major challenge and it can be easy to fall into the idea of ‘I can’t do it,’ but in time, seeing a student achieve what they didn’t think was possible is very rewarding,” she said.
This is Truman’s second year of many still to come at Penn, as she taught at Homestead High School for 10 before moving back to her hometown. She feels lucky to be a part of the high school experience in a different way than when she was growing up.
Student spotlight:
One of the six students who traveled to Purdue this past month, Senior Joel Benavides, strives to make change through his engineering skills.
Benavides has always had an interest in technological design, but his involvement in the FIRST Robotics team at Penn has furthered his passion in the past few years. The team has an outreach initiative titled Mission to Engineer, which seeks to build Assistive Technology for children throughout the Michiana community.
In late 2023, a family with Beacon Health Systems approached the team with a child who wanted to play “Mario Kart” with his family but could not due to the inaccessibility of Nintendo game controllers. Benavides and other robotics members took this challenge and created a result that is likely the first of its kind in the world: an arcade-style joystick usable on the Nintendo Switch Pro.
“Seeing the smiles and the joy on the faces of the families who we work with provoked feelings of happiness, joy, and fulfillment that I can hardly describe, and it is without a doubt the most empowering aspect of what I do and what has pushed me towards pursuing engineering,” Benavides said.
Benavides’ involvement in Penn branches far out of the realm of technology. He’s a member of Penn’s chapter of National Honor Society, Key Club, and many other service-based clubs. He’s the co-president of Kingsmen Against Cancer, where he assists in the creation and delivery of goods such as cards and blankets to cancer patients at Beacon Memorial Hospital in South Bend. Finally, he is on the executive board of Penn’s student government, where he collaborates with other students to raise school spirit and foster a sense of community.
On top of his extracurricular activities, Benavides is enrolled in several Advanced Placement and college-level courses. With a hefty schedule, he’s often overwhelmed but pushes through nonetheless.
“I’ve realized that if I just buckle down and get to work, things will get done faster than I realize,” he said. “When anything unexpected happens, I have a lot of great teammates, mentors, and friends I can rely on to help me study and get projects finished on time.”
As he enters the second semester of his senior year, Benavides is prepared to make a change and shine in the future. He’s been granted full tuition to Purdue University through the Posse Foundation, a scholarship program where ten students in northern Indiana who have displayed extraordinary leadership ability are given the opportunity to attend the nation’s top colleges.
After he graduates from Purdue, Benavides hopes to find a job that utilizes his skills to help his community in an outstanding way.