The Bear Facts
September 1, 2012
Good morning! I’m Allison Frideres!
And I’m Grace Steil! Welcome to a special edition of the “Bear Facts”, where we’re celebrating Homecoming 2012 here at Bishop Garrigan High School!
While Homecoming has been the week of Labor Day a couple of times before, this year’s date is the earliest the event has ever been. Student Council started making plans for Homecoming before school let out last May, and thanks to that, it should be a good week. The theme they chose last spring was “A Trip to the Moon”, and that’s turning out to be especially timely with the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.
Part of the fun at Homecoming each year are the special dress days. We’ll start things off on Tuesday with a salute to our theme: Outer Space Day. Wednesday we’ll have Class Color Day—with the seniors in black, the juniors in white, the sophomores in green, and the freshmen in blue. Thursday we’ll have fun with Fake an Injury Day, and Friday will be Golden Bear Spirit Day.
One of the biggest parts of Homecoming each year is the class competition. We’ll start things off Monday night building floats for the Homecoming parade. Then Wednesday the classes will take on each other in events ranging from volleyball, kickball, and ping-pong to trivia, Twister, and hot dog eating. We’ll tell you where everyone ended up on next week’s show.
We cast our ballots yesterday for this year’s Homecoming royalty. The king candidates for 2012 were Victor Berte, Sean Dyson, Andrew McGuire, Dustin Miller, Charlie Thilges, and Shawn Vaske. The candidates for queen are Sophie Behr, Amelia Golwitzer, Melissa Kellner, Logan Kumm, Aubrie Meyers, and Noelle Vitzthum. We’ll be crowning our 2012 Homecoming royalty at a special ceremony next Wednesday at 7pm in Firedmann Auditorium.
Homecoming will mark the first district game for the Golden Bear football team, who started the year by playing schools in larger classes. Returning seniors on this year’s team include Victor Berte, Jake Kollasch, Shawn Vaske, Jonathan Berte, and Elliot Boisjolie; as well as Thomas Bradley, Charlie Thilges, Adam Hamilton, and Alex Matthews. Among the juniors to watch are Connor Langerman, Chris Loss, Brayton Loss, Corey Weydert, Bailey Kohlhaas, Neal Koob, Nathan Krieps, Michael Berke, David Klein, and Connor Garman. There are also three sophomores starting varsity: Reece Wadle, Ben Vaske, and Andrew Miller.
The volleyball team has also started their season. This year Coach Schnurr’s varsity roster includes seniors Amelia Golwitzer, Aubrie Meyers, Chelsi Lanus, and Hannah Byrkeland; plus juniors Vanessa Dodds, Kara Eischen, and Taylor Hovey. Rounding out the varsity squad are sophomores Patricia Brandt, Kaitlyn Fogarty, and Betty Straub; and freshmen Olivia Vaske and Johanna Vaske. Good luck throughout the fall to our football and volleyball teams!
This past week the BGHS music and drama departments held try-outs for the fall musical. This year Garrigan will be performing The Music Man to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of that landmark film. The musical is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, November 2nd and 3rd, so mark your calendars now and be sure to be on hand to see The Music Man.
The annual Bishop Garrigan calendar drive just began. For the next two weeks every student in grades five through twelve will be selling raffle calendars. Each calendar gives you 365 chances to win cash prizes—anywhere from $35 to $500. The calendars cost just $25 each. They list all the school events, and they’re packed full of pictures of everything that goes on at Garrigan and Seton. The money goes to our transportation budget, so be sure to find your favorite Golden Bear to get your calendar.
This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on Amelia Golwitzer. Here to tell you about her is Erin Reedy.
Amelia Golwitzer has served as co-president of her class for three year’s, and this year she’s student council co-president. She’s a four-year member of the volleyball team, she’s lettered in cheerleading and dance, and she’s also active in band, choir, speech, drama, and Christian Leadership. When she’s not at school you might see her working as a lifeguard either in Algona or Wesley. Amelia plans a career in law, and we wish her all the best after high school.
Thanks, Erin! On our Golden Bear calendar today there’s a JV and freshman volleyball tournament at Algona High. Monday there’s no school because of Labor Day, but that night the freshman and sophomore football team takes on North Union.
Monday night we’ll be building Homecoming floats. The Homecoming fun starts on Tuesday with Outer Space Day. We’ll finish up the floats that afternoon, and that night the cross-country team runs at Estherville.
Wednesday we’ll have the Battle of the Classes. That night there’s the traditional Homecoming coronation and pep rally. Thursday we’ll have Fake an Injury Day, and that night the volleyball team plays at Hampton.
Friday will be Golden Bear Spirit Day. We’ll start things off with our Homecoming mass, and in the afternoon each class will present a skit. The parade will be on State Street at 2pm, followed by a pep rally at the court house.
The Golden Bear spirit squad will have their annual Seton cheer clinic Friday night. At 7pm the Golden Bear football team will take on Prairie Valley, and following the game there’s the big Homecoming dance.
Next Saturday marks the birthday of Bishop Philip Garrigan, for whom our school was named. There’s CYO cross-country next Saturday at Holstein, and the volleyball team will be playing at a tournament in Emmetsburg.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in next Saturday when we’ll bring you all the results of Homecoming week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.