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After two years attending a large public high school in South Bend, Indiana, Nate Laneman chose to transfer to Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS) for his junior year. Then, he decided to finish high school a year early as part of the first graduating class at PPHS South Bend.

Before enrolling at Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS) in South Bend, Indiana, Rafael Calleja-Castillo struggled building relationships with teachers and asking for the support he needed. Once he visited PPHS and learned about the low student-to-coach ratio, he knew he would flourish in the student-focused environment.

A young Nathan O’Rourke could list every Indianapolis 500 winner since 1911. Since then, he’s worked with some of the best known names in IndyCar and is currently living out his racing dreams.

Destiny White didn’t set out to become Purdue’s first Black female nuclear engineering graduate, but she did just that.

Aidan O’Connell enters the 2022 season as the Boilermakers’ starting quarterback and may have a professional career in his future.

As a member of the Purdue “All-American” Marching band, Krupa Patel enjoys coming back to the Indy 500, a tradition held for over 100 years.

I want to tell young girls: Whatever you want to put your mind to, you can achieve it. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. As a female police officer, I’m going to have to work 20 times as hard as any man.

In a world of influencers and models, you look at these people and you think, “I want to look like that.” But that’s not how it is with the 500 Festival Princess Program.

When I was in middle school choir, I was assigned to be a helper and mentor to a student with Down syndrome. I ended up getting really close with his family. I did a lot of work with the Special Olympics in high school, too.

I went to the Indy 500 when I was younger, but I didn’t know I was hearing the Purdue “All-American” Marching Band the whole time until I was able to be a part of it in college as a Golduster.