June 1, 2024

Homestead Students, Parents, Families, and Friends

Our students always impress us as they strive for excellence in academics, athletics, and the arts, and their kind hearts and care for their community always make us proud as they work to make the world a better place. This school year has been exceptional in all of these areas for our Spartans.

As the parent of a Homestead graduate, a long-time teacher at the school, and as a member of the administrative team, I have long-admired how our students push and challenge themselves every day to achieve at their highest capabilities. This year, over 2000 of our students took honors courses and over 800 students completed 1 or more Advanced Placement courses, culminating in a high-stakes two-hour plus exam for each AP class they were enrolled in. Students in grades 9 - 12 this year also earned close to 13,000 college credits by selecting to take Dual Credit courses, college credits that can be used toward a future degree from public colleges and universities in Indiana and many other public and private post-secondary institutions across the country. This dedication to academic excellence is why individual students have earned so many accolades this year. Five Homestead students were named National Merit Scholarship Finalists. The White House selected five of our students as Presidential Scholar candidates. Eighteen Spartans were named National Commended Scholars by the College Board, scoring in the top 2% in the nation on their PSAT exams. The HHS chapter of the National Honor Society inducted 150 Spartans into membership in the fall. Four members of the Class of 2025 were named Rising Stars of Indiana. Twelve students were awarded academic honors through the College Board’s National Diversity Recognition Program. Individual awards of national academic distinction included Homestead’s Layla Kelly, who was one of just 100 students across the country to serve as delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program. Thomas Sidel and Eli Griffin earned one of this country’s highest honors with their acceptance into the United States Naval Academy and West Point, respectively. As many members of the Class of 2024 set forth to further their education, we are pleased to announce that they have been awarded close to twenty million dollars in merit scholarships.These are just some of the honors and recognitions that we have had the opportunity to celebrate with our amazing students this year.

Awards for working hard and striving to reach their full potential were not limited to the classroom. Our Family and Consumer Science Club and Distributive Education Club competed and brought home awards from their state and national competitions. Homestead’s marching band, recognized this year as one of the 9 original bands to perform at the Indiana State Marching Band Competition 50 years ago, brought home a top five trophy at the conclusion of a highly competitive state season and placed second in the Class 3A Bands of America Grand National Championship competition. The Homestead Jazz Band won the prestigious Purdue Jazz Competition. Our dance team brought home honors in Hip Hop and Jazz from their state and national events. Our chapter of the Junior Classical League placed 2nd overall at their state convention sweepstakes. Homestead’s We the People Team, specialists in all things related to the United States Constitution, were regional champions this year and won a prestigious unit award at the state championship. Homestead media students won the Indiana High School Media of the Year Award in all five categories at the 2024 Indiana Association of School Broadcasters Competition. Four members of Homestead’s Student Government were invited to serve on an important advisory board as part of this year’s Fort Wayne Economic Development Summit, offering the teen perspective on how our city can keep and attract talented young adults to live and work in our area. In the fall, an accomplished group of students helped Homestead to launch a new plumber and steamfitter training program with Local 166. Homestead’s Robotics Team had an incredible year, qualifying for and competing at the FIRST Indiana State Robotics Competition. As the year drew to a close, Homestead held its annual Art Gallery and Coffee Shop, which provided our community with an opportunity to see hundreds of examples of outstanding student created art from all genres, and to celebrate the efforts of our 10 art students and authors who were named Gold Key Winners at the 2024 Scholastic Competition. We are so proud of these individuals and groups for representing Homestead with distinction throughout the year.

In addition to academic excellence and recognition for outstanding work in the visual and performing arts, Homestead has had an incredible year of athletic success. School spirit and Spartan pride rose to new levels because of the work done by Homestead’s Student Leader Group, the Student Athletic Leadership Team (S.A.L.T.), and members of the Spartan Army. Football games this year included food trucks, fan competitions, new student section T-shirts, and strong support from some of the largest student sections in recent school history. Best of all, the students who led this effort are already making plans to build upon this high level of enthusiasm at even more competitions next year.  Spartan athletic success took us to the state level throughout the year. Our outstanding young women distance runners ran to victory, bringing us Homestead’s first ever Indiana Girls Cross Country State Championship. In another first, Eric Ji and Alex Graber won the Indiana Boys Tennis Doubles State Championship. Thomas Davis was tenth at the State Diving Championship. Cat Pergo, Domenica Casini, Lucy Karamer, and Addison Knoblauch won the Indoor Track State Distance Medley, setting a new meet record, and Ellie Irwin was Indoor Track State Runner-up in the high jump. Spartan gymnast Jillian Creager finished fourth in the Indiana State All Around competition and our girls golf team had an outstanding season, placing third at state. Katy Vardaman finished second at the State Girls Wrestling Competition. Homestead students brought home our first ever Unified Track Sectional Championship and our boys captured Homestead’s first ever Boys Track and Field Regional Championship. The Unified Team, and nine individuals and 2 relay teams from our boys and girls track and field teams, have qualified to compete for their state championships in June. It has been quite the year for our Spartan athletes.

Another place where Homestead students excel is in the area of community service. Our students devote an incredible amount of time to their studies, clubs, performance groups and athletic teams, and yet they still find time to do good works for others. Throughout the year, our students reached out to thank the people who were supporting them behind the scenes. Student government provided treats to thank our bus drivers and maintenance crew and our culinary students held a luncheon for our cafeteria staff. More than 200 students created booths featuring food from around the globe for Taste of Homestead, a free event open to the community that provided not only amazing samples of world cuisine, but opportunities to learn about 52 different cultures. Spartans raised over $1000.00 for Breastie Boxes to support women undergoing treatment for breast cancer and over $12,000.00 for Riley Children’s Hospital. Our Students Against Destructive Decisions created a safe driving video to encourage our young drivers to be careful behind the wheel. Our Interact Club cleaned over 50 storm drains in downtown Fort Wayne to keep trash from making it to our rivers and provided a face painting booth for our football fans, which raised money to support the local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. Key Club, with over 150 members, making them one of the largest chapters in the state, provided a gumdrops and toothpick architectural experience for young children attending Fort Wayne’s Taste of the Arts STEAM Park and gathered over 1 ton of food during their annual drive to support the Community Harvest Food Bank. These young people embrace the ideal of acting with kindness and compassion, and demonstrate what can be accomplished when Spartans set a goal to make a positive difference in the world.

Homestead’s faculty and staff also had a stellar year. Performing Arts teacher Jason Witzigreuter was selected to become a member of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity. Instructional Assistant Shawn Alger and Spartan Testing Center Director Yolanda Fortune received Excellence in Education Awards from the SACS School Board. Two Homestead teachers were awarded the very prestigious Lilly Endowment this year, receiving grants designed to give Indiana teachers an opportunity to have personal and creative renewal experiences. Art teacher Sarah Jones will go to France and Italy to view the great works of the Renaissance and English teacher Tara Olivero will travel to Beijing, China to continue her Mandarin Chinese studies and experience the culture. Engineering teacher and Robotics Team Coach Matt Elder was selected to attend the First/Air Force Leadership Experience prior to the start of the school year, one of just 24 teachers selected nationally for inspiring today’s youth to become the technical leaders of tomorrow. English teacher Lisa Baltes received an Outstanding Educator Award at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Regional Ceremony. Latin Teacher Ellen Waite was named Indiana Latin Teacher of the Year at the 2024 Indiana Classical Conference. Librarian Amy Acree and History teacher Brianna Lisack were named SACS Superstars by the Southwest Allen County Schools Education Foundation. This amazing year for our faculty and staff culminated with Homestead art teacher Sam Welch being recognized as both the Homestead Teacher of the Year and the Southwest Allen County Teacher of the Year. He will represent the district at the state recognition competition which is held in the fall. The faculty and staff of Homestead High School provide our students with outstanding educational experiences that provide them with the content knowledge and skills necessary to not only achieve their post-secondary college, career and service goals, but to excel in all of their endeavors.

Progress continues to be made on Homestead’s construction project. The north end of the Spartan Academic Wing, which runs along Homestead Road, is complete, and most of our math, language arts, world language and science teachers are now settled into their new rooms. The south end of that wing, and the new business quad are scheduled to be completed over the summer, allowing the social studies and business teachers to join their colleagues. The administrative offices and the library will be relocating over the summer, so that construction can begin on the new library and on the extension of the Spartan Grand Hallway, which will eventually connect Door 1 to the academic wing. Our culinary students have been meeting in our new domestic kitchen space. Their nutrition lab and the commercial kitchen space are scheduled to be ready by the start of the new school year. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, the final sections of the remodeled area will hopefully be completed and ready for occupancy. Watch our website for construction updates.

The cafeteria expansion will allow us to go to three lunch periods next year. This will give us the ability to balance our schedule so that the fifth period will not have to be 30 minutes longer than all of the other periods. The new schedule will also include the Spartan 40, a student support time on Fridays that will provide an opportunity for students to view the weekly announcements and for teachers to continue to build relationships, provide academic support, and build the sense of community that gives Homestead a small school feel. The school day will still begin at 7:40 am and students will still be dismissed at 2:30 pm each day. 

Please note that the district will be on a four-day schedule during the summer. All district buildings will be closed on Fridays during the months of June and July. Please plan on parking near Door 131 on the north side of the building (accessed from Aboite Center Road) if you have an appointment at the school. If the door is locked, you may need to call the number posted on the door to request that someone let you in, as construction may result in office disruptions throughout the summer. We anticipate that the school may occasionally be closed due to power or water being turned off, and Homestead phones and internet may also occasionally be impacted. Please call 260-431-2200 prior to visiting us this summer, to be sure that we are available and can accomplish what you need us to get done.

Important Information About Summer Reading:

We are very excited that all Homestead students will have the opportunity to have the same summer reading assignment this year. In a time where there are very few experiences that are shared by every student in our building, we see this as a unique opportunity to be united in a single academic pursuit. This assignment is designed to connect students with an engaging, entertaining, and enriching reading experience. Encouraging our Spartans to read over the summer is one of the many ways we are preparing our students for academic excellence while fostering a life-long love of reading. As a reminder, students currently in grades 8 - 11 and their families were sent information about Homestead High School’s Summer Reading program during the closing days of the school year. Every student who will be attending HHS next year received a copy of the historical fiction novel I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys and an assignment handout – the Summer Reading Literature Review Sheet – from their English teacher prior to the last day of school in May, 2024. 

Students will be required to read the book and complete the Summer Reading Literature Review Sheet during the months of June and July. This assigned handout will be collected by our English teachers on the first day of school, August 7th. Students must return this book in August after the summer reading activities and assignments have been completed.  Because the books will be used again in the future, please remind your student not to write in the book. Families will be required to pay for any lost or damaged books. Further instructions for the Summer Reading Program can be found here:

Please mark your calendars with these important dates for the upcoming school year:

Registration Day - Tuesday - July 30th 

Homestead will be open for registration, laptop pickup and student pictures from 8 am to 8 pm. 

Grade 9 Orientation Day - Thursday - August 1st 

Ninth Grade Student Check-in starts at 9:45 and Orientation will be from 10 am - 1:15 pm. Parents are invited to meet their students at the conclusion of orientation to help them practice walking their schedule.

First Day of School for Students - Wednesday - August 7th - First Period starts at 7:40 am

If you will be bringing your student to school next year, please use the Spartan Roundabout - accessed from Homestead Road by turning on to Indian Meadows Drive, next to the SACS Administration Building - to drop them off at Door 1. Due to continued limitations on the number of spaces available for student parking, parking permits will only be issued to students in grades 11 and 12 on Registration Day. If we find there are some spaces available later in the month, licensed drivers in grade 10 will be invited to apply for a parking permit.

If you are not riding the bus to school, please plan to arrive at school early enough that you will not be tardy to your first period class. Until the construction project is completed, traffic will continue to be a challenge. Being first in line at 7 am or arriving at 7:20 am to avoid the longest lines were the best two options this year. In order to keep everyone safe, please remember that cars should NEVER enter the bus lot during arrival and dismissal times. 

Students - make sure you bring your copy of the book I Must Betray You and your completed Summer Reading Literature Review Sheet to your English class and your fully charged laptop for all of your other classes on this first day of school. All of your classes will hit the ground running because there is so much to accomplish during our 180 days together.

Back-to-School Night - Wednesday - August 14th

Please join us and meet your student’s teachers at this Open House from 6 - 7:45 pm. Bring your student’s schedule with you, or access it from PowerSchool using your phone. There will also be an optional Advanced Placement, Dual Credit and Honors Course Presentation for anyone interested in learning more about these academic opportunities at Homestead.

Flex Days 2024-2025

On Flex Days, students stay home and receive their assignments via Canvas. Students complete their work online while their teachers receive Professional Development training at the school.

Friday August 23  

Friday September 20

Friday November 1

Friday March 7

Spartans – it has been an amazing year. We cannot wait to see what the 2024-2025 school year will bring! 

Have fun, stay safe, and we will see you again in August!

Have a wonderful summer.

Susan Summers

Principal

Homestead High School