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. Click to see the full photo gallery below.

The parade left from Penn High School and went down McKinley approximately two miles and ended at Zolman’s Tire.

Thank you to all the parade participants who volunteered their time on a Sunday afternoon: Mishawaka and Penn Twp. Fire Departments, St. Joseph County Police, the Marching Kingsmen, Penn Girls and Boys Wrestling Teams, Penn Cheerleaders, Penn Youth Wrestling Club, Rocket Football cheerleaders, and Dr. and Mrs. Thacker. Along with Sarah with her mom Nancy and dad Chris, Sarah’s extended family were also in the parade. Sarah and her parents were in a golden yellow convertible Mustang driven by St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman. Thank you to Zolman’s Tire for supplying some trucks.

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.

Sarah was able to see and catch up with the coach who gave her first break, then Discovery Middle School Wrestling Coach Raoul Donati.

Sarah threw out free T-shirts featuring her smiley face tattoo on the front and her viral X tweet on the back.

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! 

Check it all out in the photo gallery below.

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Penn High School’s “Golden Girl” is coming home! On Sunday, September 8th the community will have a celebratory parade for the Female Wrestler Olympic Gold Medalist.

The parade starts at 3:00 at the intersection of Bittersweet and McKinley Highway. The parade will proceed West down McKinley Highway and will end at Zolman’s Tire (2014 E McKinley Ave., Mishawaka).

There will be an Olympic Celebration 4:30 p.m. at Urban Swirl (Heritage Square, Granger). Congressman Rudy Yakym will present Sarah with a special gift; and Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood’s office will present a proclamation. Mark McGill will emcee the event.

There will be free posters, available on a first come, first serve basis. T-shirts will also be available for sale.

Sarah Hildebrandt earned a Gold Medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Women’s Wrestling (50kg). Hildebrandt was one of two American women to win a Gold Medal in Wrestling at the 2024 Olympics. She is also just the fourth woman to win Gold in Team USA Wrestling history.

Hildebrandt earned a Bronze Medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She is also a two-time national collegiate champion. A 2011 graduate of Penn High School, Hildebrandt became the first female to qualify for the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Wrestling Semi-State competition and led Penn High School to the IHSAA Team Championship. Her personal coach is Penn Boys Wrestling Head Coach Brad Harper.

Click here for Sarah’s full list of accomplishments from her early years at Discovery Middle School. 

Penn High School’s “Golden Girl” is coming home! On Sunday, September 8th the community will have a celebratory parade for the Female Wrestler Olympic Gold Medalist.

The parade starts at 3:00 at the intersection of Bittersweet and McKinley Highway. The parade will proceed West down McKinley Highway and will end at Zolman’s Tire (2014 E McKinley Ave., Mishawaka).

There will be an Olympic Celebration 4:30 p.m. at Urban Swirl (Heritage Square, Granger). Congressman Rudy Yakym will present Sarah with a special gift; and Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood’s office will present a proclamation. Mark McGill will emcee the event.

There will be free posters, available on a first come, first serve basis. T-shirts will also be available for sale.

Sarah Hildebrandt earned a Gold Medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Women’s Wrestling (50kg). Hildebrandt was one of two American women to win a Gold Medal in Wrestling at the 2024 Olympics. She is also just the fourth woman to win Gold in Team USA Wrestling history.

Hildebrandt earned a Bronze Medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She is also a two-time national collegiate champion. A 2011 graduate of Penn High School, Hildebrandt became the first female to qualify for the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Wrestling Semi-State competition and led Penn High School to the IHSAA Team Championship. Her personal coach is Penn Boys Wrestling Head Coach Brad Harper.

Click here for Sarah’s full list of accomplishments from her early years at Discovery Middle School. 

We were so happy to welcome our kindergarten friends today, take a look at photos and a short video below!

We are thrilled to announce that Nichol Mondy, a dedicated 3rd-grade teacher at Northpoint, has been honored by the Indiana Department of Education by making their TOP 25 list for Teacher of the Year! This prestigious recognition is a testament to Mrs. Mondy’s exceptional teaching skills, dedication to her students, and her commitment to educational excellence. 

Mrs. Mondy has had a remarkably busy summer, balancing her time between teaching summer camps, volunteering for children’s camps at her church, and participating in teacher professional development courses.

Her passion for education and continuous improvement truly sets her apart, which is why she was named P-H-M’s 2024 Elementary Teacher of the Year in May. 

Her innovative teaching methods, compassion, and enthusiasm create a nurturing and stimulating learning environment that leaves a lasting impact on her students. Congratulations, Mrs. Mondy, on this well-deserved recognition!

With the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, P-H-M is switching to ParentSquare, a new unified, user-friendly, communications platform designed with parents and guardians in mind. CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED.

ParentSquare provides a centralized location for families to receive communications from school principals, teachers, coaches, and front office staff on all their students, in all schools, in all classrooms! CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED. 

Parents/guardians receive alerts, updates, and posts on:

• important notifications, such as school closings and delays
• attendance
• principal & teacher newsletters
• school & classroom calendar of events
• volunteer & RSVP for events
• fill out permission slips & other forms
• … ALL IN ONE LOCATION!

Families chose their preferred mode of communication for non-urgent notifications– app, text, email, phone. Parents/guardians can also chose to have all communications automatically translated to their preferred first language.

As we approach the first day of school (Wednesday, August 21), principals and teachers will be using ParentSquare to share important “Back to School” information. Parents and guardians are asked to activate their accounts by Monday, August 12, 2024.

PLEASE NOTE: If your child is transitioning to a new building from last school year, the information will be updated later this summer. You are still able to register for ParentSquare.

To activate parent/guardian accounts, parents need to check their email for the welcome and introductory email.

The email was sent between Thursday, July 11 and Friday, July 12, 2024 with the subject line: “Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. is now using ParentSquare.” 

The sender of the email will appear as “Penn-Harris-Madison via ParentSquare” with a donotreply @parentsquare.com email address, similar to this … donotreply+01d8d49e-b6f1-47f3-ac23-d45abf67b233@parentsquare.com

What do you get when you mix Pomp & Circumstance with Taylor Swift?

Former Northpoint Elementary students, now Class of 2024 graduating seniors, did their Senior Parade through our school on Thursday, May 30th. Not only did they get to see their old teachers, but as an added bonus it was “Mini Economy Mall” Day! This time around though they were given their Mini Economy Mall money and they got to buy whatever they wanted! Our current Northpoint Stars enjoyed haggling with the seniors.

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The last Teacher Impact Award of the school year was handed out this morning to our very own 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 photo gallery below.

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.