The Bear Facts
February 2, 2013
Good morning! I’m Grace Steil!
And I’m Allison Frideres! Welcome once again to the
“Bear Facts”. Happy February from all of us at Bishop Garrigan High School!
“Alternating current.” That was the answer to a
quiz bowl question that a reader accidentally gave the answer to last Saturday
before the Golden Bear team had a chance to answer. That one answer made all the
difference and kept the Bears from he championship round at the Crusader
Invitational at Heelan High School in Sioux City.
Garrigan’s varsity team was undefeated and seeded
first going into playoffs—with wins over Sioux City East, Ft. Dodge St. Edmond,
South O’Brien, Lawton Bronson, and Logan Magnolia. They beat Remsen St. Mary’s
in the quarterfinals and then faced Sioux City North in the semifinals. The
Bears would have led at the end of the game, except for that reader’s mistake.
Instead the game ended in a tie, and North ended up winning in ovetime. Garrigan
would have to settle for third place overall. Congratulations on a great effort
to Jake Hamilton, Levi Bernhard, Tony Kollasch, Hannah Bernhard, and Zach
Kollasch.
Garrigan’s JV team also had an outstanding day, and
just like the varsity they were undefeated going into playoffs. Because of a
strange method of seeding, though, the Bears ended up seeded below Algona High,
a team they had already beaten earlier in the day. They ended up in a rematch
with North and lost a close game. Taylor Illg, Mark Fakler, Devin Degen, and
Carolyn Baxter made up the JV team.
The quiz bowl team will again be sponsoring a community tournament this spring. This will be the third annual tournament, and the date is Friday, March 15. More information will be available soon on the Garrigan website, or you can contact Jake Hamilton, one of the players who is organizing the event. You can email Jake at j – d – h – a – m – i – 9 at gmail.com.
The big event this weekend is state speech.
Two-thirds of Bishop Garrigan’s large group entries earned I’s at district
contest and advanced to state competition. Today the Bears will have six events
competing at state in LeMars. About an hour from now the acting ensemble Deliver
Us Not will perform, with Mark Fakler, Morgan Frideres, and Betty Straub in the
cast. Another ensemble, Floral Fantasy, goes at 10:45, starring Shawn Vaske and
Melanie Mergen.
Around 12:30 Garrigan’s reader’s theatre will perform.
A Mad Breakfast features Alissa Kirsch, Taylor Frideres, Betty Straub, Morgan
Frideres, Emily Riesenberg, Taylor Illg, Amanda Altman, Erica Carlson, and Nick
Bronk. Then at 2pm Shwan Vaske, Christian Matthews, Matthew Fakler, Alex
Matthews, Mark Fakler, and Jake Hamilton will perform a musical theatre
selection from Les Mis.
Garrigan is also entered in Radio Broadcasting, with
Joseph Espinosa, Carolyn Baxter, and Kylie Fox performing right after 2pm.
Rounding out the day is the group mime “Kung Fu Princess” starring Logan Kumm,
Hannah Boisjolie, and Makayla Foertsch. Best wishes at state speech contest to
Coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and the whole Golden Bear Speech team.
There’s been a lot of colds, flu, and allergies this
winter, and one of the symptoms that goes along with those is a sore throat.
Yesterday at Garrigan we had a special prayer service with a rite of blessing of
throats to prevent and cure diseases. The right is in the name of St. Blaise, a
4th Century physician who also became a Bishop of the church and a martyr. His
feast day is actually February 3rd, but we held the ceremony on the school day
closest to that date.
Last Wednesday we had our annual mass for Catholic
Schools Week. At the beginning of mass we were pleased to welcome back Bishop
Garrigan president Gene Meister, who has been away from school during his
recovery from cancer. While he was missing his hair, Mr. Meister looked good,
and he was in good spirits as he addressed the student body. We continue wish
him well in his recovery, and we’re looking forward to having him back with us
at Garrigan.
It’s traditional at our Catholic Schools Week mass to
take up a collection from the students who attend. This year’s offering was
especially generous. Students chipped in and raised more than $340 for the
Kossuth County CARE Team, a group that helps out youth around the area.
Preparations are underway for Gala 2013. Art students
have been busy making decorations for the big event, which will the weekend
after Easter, April 6, 2013. The theme this year is Phantom of the Opera, and
once again it should be a great night. So mark your calendars for April 6 and
Gala 2013.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Andrea Gisch.
Andrea is a Bancroft native who says her favorite classes are science and
English. She’s not directly active in a lot of school activities, but she
supports her friends in everything they do. Andrea enjoys spending time with
family and friends, riding horses, and boating. She hopes to study
pre-veterinary medicine in college, and we wish her all the best in the future.
On this week’s Golden Bear calendar, today is the
state large group speech contest in LeMars. Tomorrow at noon the Knights of
Columbus will hold their district free throw championship, and after that
intramural basketball resumes.
Tuesday the boys freshman and varsity teams host
Clarion—Goldfield. Wednesday will be a short day of classes. We’ll have mass in
the morning, and then we dismiss early for a teacher inservice session that
afternoon.
Thursday girls regional basketball begins, with the
Bears hosting West Bend—Mallard. Finally next Saturday the math team plays at
Iowa State University in Ames.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for
tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop
Garrigan High School.
