The Bear Facts
January 11, 2014
Good morning! I’m Jake Hamilton!
I’m Kara Eischen!
I’m Brittany Kirsch!
And I’m Erin Quinlin! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”. Happy New Year from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School!
January is honor band season. Today Garrigan students Hannah Bernhard, Dorothy Kirsch, and Levi Bernhard are over in Mason City for the North Central Iowa Bandmasters Association honor band at North Iowa Area Community College. Congratulations to them and to band director Ken
Ferjak!
The honor bands continue next Wednesday, when a large group of band students will be honored by the Sioux City Diocese. They include flautists Brittany Kirsch and Morgan Frideres; clarinetists Taylor Frideres, Betty Straub, Levi Bernhard, and Courtney Kirsch; saxophonists Johanna Vaske, Kylie Fox, Josh Hamilton, and Nick Bronk; trumpeters Mark Fakler and Jakob Hamilton; French horn players Dorothy Kirsch and Hannah Bernhard; and trombonist Corey
Weydert.
One of the biggest activities at Garrigan every winter is intramural basketball. This year six teams are entered in intramurals. One of them is organized by Garrigan President Lynn Miller and features a variety of coaches and staff members. The others are all different combinations of students. Among them is a team captained by Connor Garman, which features fellow seniors Kara Eischen, Vanessa Dodds, Dillon Walker, Sean Hart, and Bailey
Kohlhaas.
Jake Hamilton and Mark Fakler are co-captaining another intramural team. Their teammates include Zach Kollasch, Corey Weydert, Taylor Illg, Tony Kollasch, and Nick Kayser. Again this year Mallory Schiltz is captain of a team made up mostly of danz squad girls. Her teammates are Patrica Brandt, Kaitlyn Fogarty, Kassidy Schiltz, Nicole Walker, Anna Hohmeister, Courtney Noonan, Megan Lappe, Sophia Grandgenett, and Morgan Muller.
Landen Studer’s team includes sophomores like Stephen McCall, Andrew Lallier, Alex McGuire, Jacob Berte, Jedd Magill, and Cameron Langermann. This year’s final intramural team is captained by Courtney Kirsch and features Sarah Skilling, Megan Brown, Donovan Berte, Andrew Thilges, Ben Fogarty, Sam Bormann, and Josh Hamilton. Intramural action begins tomorrow afternoon and runs most Sundays through the winter. The referees are varsity basketball players, organized by Ben Vaske and Andrew Miller. Good luck to everyone competing in intramurals.
Speech season is here. Just two weeks from now Garrigan will have eight groups competing at the district large group speech contest. The largest group Coach Mary McCall is working with is in Readers’ Theatre. They’re presenting a piece called “Marlin, Mississippi Report”, and the group features Nick Kayser, Emily Riesenberg, Amanda Altman, Kylie Fox, and Joseph Espinosa; as well as Carolyn Baxter, Betty Straub, Taylor Frideres, Taylor Illg, and Morgan
Frideres.
There’s also an acting ensemble called “Space Quest” that includes Betty Straug, Mark Fakler, and Morgan Frideres, and another called “Spin the Bottle” with Levi Capesius and Chloe Garman. In Musical Theatre, Mark Fakler and Christian Matthews will sing “The Proposal” from Titanic.
Again this year Garrigan is entered in the group radio broadcasting category. Performers there include Jake Hamilton, Levi Bernhard, Nick Bronk, Taylor Illg, Mariah Bronk, and Nick Kayser. The final category—Group Improvisation—is one where we’ve been very successful over the year. There are three improve groups this year. Among them the performers are Corey Weydert, Kara Eischen, Sean Hart, Levi Bernhard, Nick Bronk, Carolyn Baxter, Joseph Espinosa, and Kylie Fox. Best wishes, large group speech!
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Michael Berke. Here to tell you about him is Taylor
Hovey.
Michael Berke is an Algona native who keeps busy with football, basketball, and golf. He’s also co-president of the BGHS Class of 2014. He’s one of several seniors who will have a lot of college credits under his belt before he graduates from high school. Away from school Michael says his interests include hunting, trapping, fishing, and girls. He’ll be off to college next year, and we wish Michael all the best in the future.
Thanks, Taylor. On our Senior Spotlight this week there’s an honor band at NIACC in Mason City today. Then tomorrow afternoon intramural basketball begins.
Monday we’ll finish up semester tests. That night there’s a basketball quad, with the Bears hosting Clarion—Goldfield. Then Tuesday there’s more basketball, with Garrigan hosting Eagle Grove. National Honor Society will host a chili supper during the games.
We’ll have mass on Wednesday morning, and there’s also a diocesan honor band that day. Next Friday we’ll have a jeans day for gala, and that night the Bears will travel to Ft. Dodge to play St. Ed’s.
That’s our first “Bear Facts” for 2014. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
TS 1/8/14
