The Bear Facts
August 27, 2016

Good morning! I’m Miranda Book!

I’m Megan Wadle!

And I’m Caitlin Thilges! Thanks for joining us as we start our twenty-fifth season of the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where for almost a quarter of a century we’ve been keeping you updated on all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

School started last Wednesday at Garrigan and Seton, and when there are quite a few changes since we left last spring. At Garrigan the most visible change is digital sign out by the new gym. Air conditioning has also been installed in several rooms, and there was a lot of painting and other improvements over the summer.

The biggest changes are at Seton, where a new daycare facility is opening this fall. Setting up for the daycare meant almost everything in the Seton building had to move—including the office and library. Since the renovations a year ago, Seton includes students up through third grade, while Garrigan has fourth grade on up through high school.

The Golden Bear baseball team had a good season in 2016. They finished with an 18 – 16 record overall and were third in the Top of Iowa Conference, with an 11 – 5 league record. Zac Kibby was a first-team all-state selection and was selected to represent the west squad on the elite all-star team. Devin Degen was selected to the academic all-state team. All-conference honorees were Zach Boelter, Zac Kibby, Joel Vaske, Devin Degen, Chase Hatten, and Grant Buscherfeld.

When the team passed out awards, Zac Kibby and Zach Boelter were named MVPs, Drake Buscherfeld was Rookie of the Year, and Joel Vaske Received the Cy Young Award for outstanding pitching. Will Kellner, Alex McGuire, and Andrew Meister split the coaches’ award. Devin Degen was named Silver slugger, Chase Hatten won the Gold Glove award, and Grant Buscherfeld was the most improved player. Other varsity letterwinners were Luke Bormann, Brad Capesius, and T.J. Schnurr. Congratulations, baseball!

The Golden Bear danz squad participated in an NDA camp over the summer, and they did very well. The girls received a superior rating for their work, and they were also honored with the Heart of Gold Award. The danz squad also received another invitation to compete at nationals next spring. Congratulations, dancers!

The Golden Bear quiz bowl team made their 17th trip to the National Academic Championships in June. They were the smallest school competing in the tournament, and unfortunately they were not able to get a win at nationals. They did play close games against teams from Texas, Michigan, Illinois, and Oklahoma, though. Students competing include Captain Levi Capesius, Ben Degen, Logan Heying, Noah Buscher, and Joseph Espinosa.

Fall sports have started at Garrigan. This year’s Golden Bear volleyball team began their season with a home match against Belmond Klemme on Thursday, and they’re playing this morning at St. Ed’s. The team includes three returning seniors: Ciera Hall, Courtney Hirsch, and Megan Brown. The core of the varsity team is juniors—including Whitney Hovey, Grace McGuire, Jenna Boelter, Aubrey McEnroe, Megan Wadle, and Caitlin Thilges. Rounding out the varsity squad is freshman Maddie Meister. Good luck to Coach Schnurr and the volleyball team!

Gridiron Gold is here again. A $20 donation gives you seventeen weeks of fun, with the total score of 3 randomly-selected NFL teams giving opportunities to win. Proceeds from Gridiron Gold help support big capital improvements at the school. In addition to bleachers, pressbox, and trophy case improvements, recent projects have been a complete renovation of Friedmann Auditorium and the sound system in the new gym. If you’re interested in buying Gridiron Gold tickets, contact Garrigan activities director Rob Meister.

Each year we begin our Senior Spotlights by looking at our student council presidents. Today we’re featuring Levi Capesius. Here to tell you about him is Sam Trainer.

Levi Capesius is in lots of different activities, and he excels at all of them. His biggest success is probably in choir, where he’s hoping to go to all-state for the fourth straight year this fall. He’s also been an all-stater in speech, he’s had leads in school plays, he was captain of the national quiz bowl team, he’s a thrower in track, and you can see him on the line when the Golden Bears play football this fall. Levi has been on student council all through school, and he’s one of our student body co-presidents this year. We wish him the best in his senior year and in the future.

Thanks, Sam! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s volleyball at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond this morning. Then on Monday students begin STAR testing, so teachers can get a base to start the year.

Monday night the JV football team plays at Garner. Tuesday is Picture Day, and that night there’s cross-country with the Newman meet run at the west campus of Mercy Hospital in Mason City.

Wednesday we’ll begin the day with mass. Then we dismiss early for the first teacher inservice of the year. Auditions for the musical are Wednesday and Thursday night.

The volleyball team plays at Lake Mills on Thursday, and Friday the football team hosts Southeast Valley. Also on Friday the annual calendar drive begins.

That’s our first “Bear Facts” for the 2016 – 2017 school year. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch the show every Saturday for all the latest news from Bishop Garrigan High School.