Rondrell Porter, a student at Pennfield High School, enjoys wrestling because it is fun and it improves his athletic abilities. He likes to run a duck under and get a mat return. So far, he has won every single match and even earned first place at his very first tournament. Aiden Cole inspires him on the team because of his skill and motivation, while Linken Hauser originally inspired him to start wrestling. His main goal for this season is to go undefeated and make it to states. Looking ahead to the future, he would like to attend either Alabama or Penn State for college, and if he continues to work hard, he believes he has the potential to go pro in wrestling.

Kinsley Holcombe & Kira “Leaf” Waidelich

Class of 2030

Jillian Smithkey is the 8th-grade Math teacher and 8th-grade Algebra teacher at Pennfield High School. She has been teaching for 15 years and is in her 8th year teaching at Pennfield. She loves travelling, camping, reading, hydroponic gardening, geocaching, crafting, and spending time with her friends and family. She has a 10-year-old son. Smithkey states, “I became a teacher because I had amazing 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade teachers. I would help them decorate bulletin boards, sort materials, and help prepare for activities. They taught me patience, perseverance, and to never give up.” Additionally, she said that, “Before teaching at Pennfield, I taught in Clarksville, Tennessee, and Chicago, Illinois.”

Aiden Hammond Class of 2030 

Virtual golf is an indoor, technology-driven simulation of playing on a real golf course.

Walter Nichols shared that virtual golf is enjoyable because it allows players to experience courses from across the United States. When asked about the level of competition, Nichols said it is usually not very difficult, but regionals are much more challenging.

Nichols also mentioned that the toughest opponent he has faced was a player from Cereal City during regional competition. According to Nichols, the fastest ball speed he has recorded is 140 miles per hour on the simulator. He added that his farthest shot traveled 250 yards using his driver.

Sophia Pluymers, Class of 2030

Jason Porter is a coach at Pennfield High School. He says his favorite thing about coaching 8th graders is having the opportunity to help young ladies and young men improve at their sports before they get to high school. His favorite grade level to teach is Varsity because he loves the competition and the drive from many of our athletes to do something beyond what they ever thought they could do as individuals and as teammates. He dislikes mediocrity or athletes who "give up" or make excuses for not playing a sport or performing as well as their peers and coaches think they could. He says, “You get four years to do something you may not ever get to do again. Take a chance, you never know what could happen”. He had a coach who believed in him when he was in high school. He wasn't a great athlete, but he was pushed to work hard, and he found out the rewards, and they were awesome. He said his favorite sports are football, softball, and basketball in that order.  Why, because he has a passion for those sports and the athletes that participate in them. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school and football and baseball in college. He started coaching softball because his sister played softball, and he just stuck with it.

Walter Nichols, Class of 2030 

Mason Back is an 8th-grade basketball player. He said that basketball is his favorite sport and he is glad that he has people to encourage him to continue playing even when times get hard, and he wants to quit. He proceeded to say that “the competition is very hard against certain teams like Harper Creek and Northwestern.” Some people who helped him get into basketball were his brothers and his stepdad, coach Lum. Mason said that he has been playing basketball for 6 years, school basketball for 5 years, and travel basketball for 1 year. His favorite thing to do in basketball is to shoot 3 pointers and run plays by himself.

Trenten Feltner, Class of 2030 

The girls' basketball season just began, and the girls are excited to be on the court. Sophia Pluymers, Eva Kline, and Ellie Lok are members of the girls' basketball team; they all love playing basketball for different reasons. Kline says, “I love basketball because it's competitive and it includes a lot of things I enjoy like running, dribbling, and shooting.”  Lok says, “I like basketball because I have something to do,” and Pluymers says, “I don't have a specific reason why I love basketball; I just love everything about it.” However, as much as they love to play basketball, they all face different challenges. Lok says, “Some of the challenges I face  during basketball are that I have to be very aggressive and stuff.” Kline says, “Not getting mad or giving up after not doing well or dealing with rude competition.”

Mason Back, Class of 2030 

Dante Minor has been playing basketball for 3 years at Pennfield Middle/High School. Dante would love to go pro, “I have been practicing,” Dante said. His favorite year of playing basketball was his 8th-grade season. Dante’s total points through his 8th-grade year were 26 points. Dante’s total assists through his years were 21 total assists.     

Trenten Feltner Class of 2030

Codi Pluymers Jr. is an 8th grader from Pennfield High School. He is part of Pennfield's swim and dive team and has really enjoyed swimming, but prefers diving. The most common question he gets asked is “Is swimming easy?” and “How do you do that?” As much as he enjoys swimming, his least favorite part is when his diving coach isn't there and when he's forced to swim. The only times he gets nervous is a first meet or first dive meet of the season. A lot of athletes have diets and schedules. Codi tries to eat healthy, but his schedule is just practice and swimming at his pool in the summer. Finally, his future goals for swimming are to keep doing swimming through high school, to make state, and hopefully get college offers.

Dante Minor, Class of 2030

Kentyn Grigsby is an 8th-grade student who attends Pennfield High School. Grigsby did track last year and plans to do it again this year. He said, "I'm really looking forward to improving my times, competing in meets, and being a part of a team again.” Grigsby also said, “I like the challenge of pushing myself and seeing progress over the season.” The events he wants to do are the 100-200m dashes and the high jump. “Yes, I'd like to continue doing track through high school, and if the opportunity comes up, I’d be interested in doing it in college as well.” Grigsby got into track by being competitive, and he gets to focus on his individual goals. “I’m excited to see how much I can improve this season and learn.”

Mary Sells & Haylee Smith Class of 2030

Natalie Vogel is an 11th-grade student at Pennfield High School. This cheerleader is sharing her passion for cheer. Natalie highlighted stunting and tumbling as her favorite activities. Natalie finds stunting particularly challenging due to the teamwork required. “The hardest thing to do is stunting because everyone needs to work together.” With three years of cheering experience, Natalie was drawn to cheerleading after she got done with gymnastics, appreciating the similarities and having a connection with friends on the team. Looking ahead, Natalie's goal is to continue their cheerleading journey at the college level.

Mason Sparks & Brady Powell Class of 2030

Mr. Piotrowski is a science teacher at Pennfield High School. The reason he started teaching was that he enjoys seeing students understand things they didn't think they could. His favorite part of teaching is working with students who want to learn. The thing that made him interested in science is that he had always been curious about the world and how everything works. He didn’t always want to be a teacher. “When I was young, people told me not to teach, but I had become a geologist and wanted to teach ever since then.” One last thing he would like to add is “Don't get distracted and do your work in my class!”