PHMEF Homecoming Parade Club Descriptions

It was a radiant Friday afternoon when the 2025 Penn Harris Madison Homecoming Parade set off. After the dance just the Saturday before and a student pep rally earlier in the day, spirits were high as Penn High School’s clubs and organizations paraded around the Penn and Schmucker campuses.

PNN’s CJ Vantine and Noah Teeple were live at the event. Sponsored by American Espresso, you can view the broadcast here.

Notes were made of each float and club at the parade, and you can find all of these below. Wait until the end to find out the winners of the monetary prizes the PHMEF granted to the student and community-voted best floats.

Penn Fire:

A majority of Michiana parades start with the sirens of its first responders… and Penn is lucky enough to have a fire station just down Mckinley Avenue. 

In past times, Penn was referred to as a “farmer school” in comparison to others in the area. The urbanization of Penn Township was rather delayed in the grand scope of things, and the famous Bittersweet Road that now connects Granger to the Mishawaka/Osceola area was not built until the late nineteen fifties. 

When the old Willow Creek Church was burnt to the ground due to lack of access to first responders, it was then decided that the largest township in St Joseph County needed a second fire department.

Homecoming Court

The Penn High School Class of 2026 King and Queen nominees followed shortly after the beginning sirens.

This year’s crowns were handed to Kloe Klein and Kam Chamness. Other nominees included were Jocelyn Teeple and Brady Bauer, Ella Hamm and Ben Dhaemers, as well as Ava Stevens and Kale Grewal.

Trailing the senior court nominees were the underclassmen court winners. With winners announced earlier that Friday, only the crowned prince and princesses participated in the parade.

Andrew Dell and Logan Edwards were chosen by Penn juniors, sophomores, and freshmen.

Penn Marching Kingsmen

The Penn marching band has seen a world of change this year with the shift of having Glenn Northern as the head director to former assistant director DJ Landoll.

Still, the Penn Marching Kingsmen remain an absolute delight. The band has been placed in the Indiana State Finals over 20 times and has been a Bands of American regional finalist four times.

This Thanksgiving, the marching band will head down to Philadelphia to perform in the Dunkin Donuts Turkey Day Parade.

The band has also performed in the Orange Bowl Parade, the Fiesta Bowl Parade, the Hollywood Christmas Parade, and the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Dr. Short and Dr. Galiher:

As an exciting first, P-H-M’s new superintendent, Dr. Heather Short, walked at the beginning of the parade. The decision to accept Short as superintendent of the PHM school district was unanimous after the announcement of Dr. Jerry Thacker’s retirement in late spring.

Short has worked closely with Thacker as his assistant superintendent for a long time leading up to her new position, and the transition between the two seems to be flowing smoothly.

Next to Short is Penn Principal Dr. Sean Galiher. Galiher has led Penn since the 2017-2018 school year. Before that, he was principal at Schmucker and an assistant principal at Penn. Long before that, he taught algebra at Penn for four years, while also serving as assistant varsity baseball coach.

Robotics

Following the highest of Penn’s administration was Penn Robotics, led by Kyle Marsh.

Penn’s robotics team participates in the First Robotics Competition. During a rigorous eight week build season, the students work in two teams to develop robots for use in competitions across the state and nation. Team 135 is the varsity team, and Team 328 is the introductory team.

Earlier on the day of the parade, Team 135 presented a tshirt launcher at the pep rally, giving out free PHMEF Homecoming shirts to Penn students.

Crayon Box Club

Trailing right behind Robotics was the Crayon Box Club.

This club is dedicated to providing a safe space for a diverse group of people at Penn High School while fostering an environment of understanding and awareness. Meetings are held on the weekly to create that safe space for all.

Unified Track & Field

Next up was the mighty Unified Track and Field team. This was Penn High School’s first unified sport that rose to prominence in 2019. 

Coached by Bennett Blazo and Jose Gutierrez, last year the unified team took runner-up at the IHSAA state tournament— a pretty big accomplishment!

Unified Corn Hole has also been implemented at Penn High School in the past few years, and Unified Bocce Ball also made an appearance this year. In the coming weeks… Pennant Reporter Mikan Gensic will bring an in-depth look at the rise of unified sports. Stay tuned.

Girls Wrestling

Next came Penn’s Girls Wrestling team!  This is the third official year as an IHSAA sanctioned sport. Amy Hildebrandt, sister of Olympic Wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt, is the head coach of the team. Hildebrandt was a coach in the Penn wrestling program from 2018 to 2020 and returned last year.

Last season, the team won both MVP and Coach of the Year by the Northern Indiana Conference. The team is looking forward to continued success by bringing home more championships for the Kingsmen this year.

DECA

Next up was the DECA float! Penn’s chapter of DECA formally Distributive Education Clubs of America… is Penn’s organization dedicated to building future entrepreneurs and business leaders and professionals of America. In this club. students network and compete in competitions on both the state and national levels.

Led by Kyle Berres… DECA holds a strong presence here at penn high school… and is by far one of the biggest clubs in PHM.

Swim & Dive

Then came the Kingsmen Swim & Dive team led by head coach John VanDriessche.

The Boys Swim & Dive team has won the IHSAA state championship two times and the girls team has won it three times, both most recently in 2024.

The swim team is another organization at penn that has such a huge presence! The team is known to be just like one big family, and that value is shown by their consistent effort in their parade float every year.

Spanish Club

Everyone then said “hola” to the Penn Spanish Club.

The Penn Spanish Club is open to everyone interested in the language and cultures of all Hispanic countries.

The club meets often to eat cultural food, make cultural crafts, and listen to festive music. This spread of culture creates allows for more student voices to be heard in the PHM community. 

Cheerleading

Following behind with a lot of spirit were the cheerleaders for the Penn High School Kingsmen! 

The cheerleading squad, led by Head Coach Rita Szweda, cheered on the Kingsmen Football team as they took on the South Bend Adams Eagles later that night.

Latino Student Union

Then came the Latino Student Union, another  very tight knit community at Penn. This organization is to highlight the Latino population at Penn High School and amplify their voices.

The parade just so happened to be in the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month. Every year, Hispanic Heritage Month lasts from September 15 to October 15, a specific time frame chosen to represent the independence of countless Latin American countries. 

There are events all across Michiana to celebrate this month, and the Latino Student Union celebrated with their cultural float!

Boys Wrestling

Next was the Penn Boys Wrestling team.

Led by Head Coach Brad Harper, the team was the IHSAA State Champion in 2015, and for the past 50 years they have sent at least one Penn wrestler to the Indiana state championship. Last year, the team had three wrestlers place in the final tournament… with Vinny Freeman coming in third. 

Knowing Coach Harper and his dedication to domination… the team is definitely looking to continue the tradition this year.

Penn Theatre

Penn’s Theatre department then made their way down the road. Sponsored by Kathryn Hein, Penn Theatre is a  program dedicated to helping students learn improvisation, teamwork, leadership, and  empathy, all while having a fun time and creating something great! 

Penn Theatre has an incredible line up this year: coming up on the weekend of October 10 is the 11-hour Theatre Festival, where a group of Penn students write, direct, and produce a short over a span of 11 hours across three days.

In late winter… Penn Theatre will collaborate with Penn Choir to produce a high school version of the broadway musical “Hadestown.” The drama department also has productions of a “A Seussified Christmas Carol” and “Hamlet” lined up this year.

Bowling Team

Rolling in next was the Penn Bowling Team. 

Led by Head Coach Tyler Whovert, the Penn Bowling Team struck down LaVille in the sectional championship last season. The team’s home alley is O.C. Lanes just down the road.

Speech & Debate

Then came the Penn High School Speech & Debate Team! 

These students have dedicated themselves to countless hours of preparation, practice, and performance, and their hard work has earned them outstanding achievements at the state and national level. Last year the debate team was runner-up in the state championship, and the year before that they took first! The team is also ranked within the Top 40 nationally. 

Penn Republican Club

Next was the Penn Republican Club, sponsored by Dan Schaetzle. Fun fact… Schaetzle is president of the St Joseph County Council. 

This status has allowed him to organize meetings with republican leaders such as former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood.

Girls Volleyball

The Penn Girls Volleyball Team then made their way down the road.

Penn’s team is one of the elite volleyball teams in the state, with Olympic Gold Medalist Annie Drews as an alum.

The Kingsmen own two state championships so far and have had a pretty good season so far this year. The Girls Volleyball Team has their sectional championship down in La Porte a few weeks from now on October 18.

Future Farmers of America (FFA)

The Future Farmers of America is another club at Penn that’s always had a prevalent presence, particularly at the homecoming parade.

This year, FFA walked with two goats, some chickens, and a lamb.

FFA is a dynamic youth organization that changes lives and prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. 

FFA is for those interested in agriculture and leadership: members are future farmers, chemists, veterinarians, government officials, entrepreneurs, bankers, business leaders, teachers, and much more. FFA’s vision is to grow the next generation of leaders who will change the world.

Girls Flag Football

The final club float of the evening was the brand new Girls Flag Football Team.

This year is Penn’s very first year with a flag football team, and it has been an absolutely historical season so far. Coached by Jerimiah Maggart, the Penn Girls Flag Football Team is sure to be headed to their first state championship.

This Year’s Winners:

As voted by Penn students and the community, these are the top six of this year’s PHMEF Homecoming Parade:

6. Penn Volleyball

5. Penn Marching Kingsmen

4. DECA

3. Penn Kingsmen Cheer, winning $250

2. Penn Girls Wrestling, winning $500

1. Penn Swim & Dive, winning $1,000