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The advisor for the Warrior Chapter of The Pennsylvania Technology Student Association is Mr. Richard D. Penepacker. Mr. Penepacker graduated with honors from the Kishacoquillas Campus of Penn Highlands High School, (the current Indian Valley Middle School), in 1971, and Cum Laude from Millersville State College, (the current Millersville University of Pennsylvania), in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Arts Education. He was hired by Central Pennsylvania Business School, (the current Central Pennsylvania College), where he taught, and worked as the school's printer, for the next two years in the Mass Communications Department. In 1977, Mr. Penepacker returned to Mifflin County and became an employee of the Mifflin County School District. The newly constructed Chief Logan Middle School, (the current Highland Park Area Elementary School), was home for the next several years where he team-taught Industrial Arts with Mr. Carl D. Harpster, the Technology Education teacher and TSA chapter advisor at Lewistown Middle School, (the former Lewistown-Granville High School). During his career, Mr. Penepacker has taught Industrial Arts/Technology Education at Chief Logan High School, (the current Indian Valley High School), Lewistown Area High School, Kishacoquillas High School, (the current Indian Valley Middle School) and Indian Valley High School, (the former Chief Logan High School). He has been teaching Visual Communications and Drafting classes at IVHS since its inception in 1988, (following the merger of Chief Logan High School and Kishacoquillas High School). "Mr. P", as he is known to his students, started the first Technology Student Association chapter in the Mifflin County School District at Indian Valley High School. The year was 1994. This initial chapter had a total membership of thirty-six students. The IVHS TSA chapter has continued to grow and flourish since the establishment of that initial chapter (see Chapter History) and has earned many accolades, (see Chapter Awards). Throughout his years in the field of education, Mr. Penepacker has been an active member of many professional organizations. He served the Technology Education Association of Pennsylvania (TEAP) Region 3C as Vice President for eight years. This region encompasses Intermediate Units #8 and #11. Mr. Penepacker was presented with the "TEAP Outstanding Regional Vice-President Service Award" in 2002 and was honored with TEAP's highest honor, "The Outstanding Service Award", in 2007. In 2003-2004, he served a term as the PA-TSA Board of Directors President. "Mr. P" has also served a term as the 2004-2007 Member-at-Large on the Pennsylvania Technology Student Association Board of Directors and completed the term of the 2005-2008 Member-at-Large Robert Rudolph as Bob accepted the President-Elect position in this fine organization. Mr. Penepacker was honored with the Dr. Thomas Winter Distinguished Service Award at the 2010 PA-TSA State Conference and the TSA National Service Award during the 2010 TSA National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a member of Epsilon Pi Tau, the Technology Education honor fraternity. Outside the classroom Mr. Penepacker has a myriad of interests and involvements. He is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Juniata Valley Chapter of P.I.A.A. Track & Field Officials, of which he has been a member since 1991. He is an avid student of "The War Between the States", (being a Southern sympathizer, he rarely uses the term "Civil War"). He has been a member of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table since 1976 and is a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust. Mr. "P" also spends massive amounts of time with his Macintosh G5 and MacBook Pro computers. Mr. Penepacker resides in Belleville with his wife Nancy. The Penepackers have two children: Jeremy - a graduate of Kutztown University and a Kindergarten teacher at Highland Park Area Elementary School in the Mifflin County School District, and Erica (an IVHS TSA Alumna) - a graduate of Edinboro University as a Psychology major with a concentration in Mental Health and presently employed as a Mifflin County Mental Health Probation Officer. One grandson, Cade Andrew, and one granddaughter, Kaleigh Marie (Jeremy and his wife Brooke's children), also get a lot of attention from "Poppy". Mr. Penepacker will be retiring from a thirty-six-year teaching career at the close of the current school year, with seventeen years as a TSA chapter advisor. It has been a good run. |
