THE BEAR FACTS
April 21, 2018

Good morning! I’m Caitlin Thilges

I’m Ben Degen

And I’m Megan Wadle! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

There was some sad news for Garrigan students, faculty, and alumni last weekend. We learned Sunday that Fr. Cecil Friedmann had died. For generations of students, Father Friedmann wa the face of Garrigan. He joined the staff just a few years after the school was founded, and served as principal and then superintendent. Fr. Friedmann led Garrigan for twenty-seven years. He left Algona for a few years, but then came back here to retire.

Even in retirement Fr. Friedmann had a strong influence on our school. He attended almost every school event, celebrated weekly masses for our football team and also led prayers for other sports teams. He presided over many school masses and also officiated at weddings and funerals for many of our alumni. His years of commitment were acknowledged a few years back when the old gym was officially named Friedmann Auditorium.

Fr. Friedmann’s visitation will be held at Garrigan tomorrow from 4 – 7pm. There will be a Knights of Columbus rosary at 4:00 and a wake service beginning at 7:00. The funeral will be Monday at 11am at St. Cecelia’s. Bishop R. Walker Nickless presiding, and all the current high school and junior high students will attend. Fr. Friedmann will be buried with family in his hometown of Alton.

Last Saturday Garrigan was supposed to host the state solo and small ensemble music contest. Because of the blizzard, the contest had to be postponed until Tuesday afternoon and evening. The delay worked out pretty well, since four vocal entries and one instrumentalist ended up being named outstanding performers, the highest honor they could receive. In band Sami Darling’s high brass solo won top honors, while Sam Trainer’s vocal solo was also named best in his center.

Also named outstanding was a girls triple trio with Cairling Thilges, Ashlyn Harrington, Amanda Miller, Megan Bronk, Emma Thul, Jordan Hansen, Layah DeLange, Lauren Kenyon, and Madison Illg. The final outstanding group was a boys double quartet featuring Sam, Joey, and Gabe Trainer, Eric Thul, Aidin Koob, Sam Vaske, and Logan Heying. Bryce Capesius will also perform with the group at the Outstanding Performer Showcase next month.

All together Garrigan earned seventeen Division One ratings in vocal music and three one’s in band. In addition to the outstanding awards, Sam Trainer and Amanda Miller received ones for instrumental solos; and Megan Bronk, Noah Bronk, Aidan Koob, Amanda Miller, Caitlin Thilges, Joey Trainer, and Layah DeLange all received ones for vocal solos. There were also ones given to a mixed ensemble, a madrigal group, two boys ensembles, two girls ensembles, a girls sextet, a boys quartet, and a small choir. Congratulations to directors Katherine Simpson and David Fog and all the Garrigan musicians.

Last Monday Garrigan’s health classes hosted a blood drive in conjunction with the LifeServe Blood Center. They had twenty-four donors who donated eighteen units of whole blood and six units of double red blood cells. That’s enough to save seventy-two lives. Thanks to everyone who participated and gave the gift of life.


Today four Garrigan freshmen are down in Iowa City for the Great Plains Math League state competition. Joey Trainer qualified for state back in December, and he’ll be competing together with Jack Snyder, Amanda Thilges, and Aric Laubenthal. Good luck at state to Coach David Burrow and the math team!

 Tonight is Prom Night 2018. The prom theme is “City Lights”, and the juniors have been busy all week transforming the gym into an elegant urban dance hall. The public is invited to the Grand March at 8pm, and of course the dance will follow that. The fun will continue all night, with after-prom extending until the wee hours. 

We’re hoping that this week’s “Bear Facts” might have somewhat better audio quality than we’ve had in the past. This is the first time we’re producing our show with a new digital .mp3 recorder. The recorder was a gift that was one of the “Pick Your Passion” items at Gala. All the Pick Your Passion items found sponsors, and we thank everyone for their generosity.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Kat Wille. Here to tell you about her is Jonathan Zeimet.

 Kat Wille is probably best known for her accomplishments in dance. She’s been on the danz squad all through high school. She also dances at Michelle’s, and she’s been to the state solo dance championships. Over the years Kat’s other activities have included speech and cheerleading. She plans to attend Minnesota State next year, and we wish her all the best in college.

Thanks, Johnny. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s the state math tournament in Iowa City today. It’s also Healthy Kids Day at the Algona YMCA.

Tonight it’s time for prom, with the Grand March starting at 8:00. This weekend also marks first communion for elementary students at Seton.
There’s boys track at Estherville on Monday. Tuesday the girls will run at Forest City, and the boys are at Emmetsburg. There’s also a coed golf meet scheduled at Armstrong Tuesday night.

There’s also a safe driving presentation on Tuesday, and some students will attend a science event at Algona High. We’ll have mass Wednesday morning, and there’s CYO golf scheduled that afternoon at Ft. Dodge.

We’ll have a guest speaker on Thursday, and next year’s student council elections are also scheduled that day. Garrigan will host Eagle Grove and Forest City in golf that night, and there’s track at North Union.

 Friday juniors will head to Ames for a performance of the play Our Town. Finally next Saturday the baseball team will host its annual camp.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.