The Bear Facts
May 2, 2015

 Good morning! I’m Emily Riesenberg!

 And I’m Dorothy Kirsch! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

 The year is almost over for those of us in the Class of 2015. Prom is over, and graduation receptions are already starting this weekend. Next week we’ll have just two full days of school and then final exams. We’ll have our baccalaureate, our last school mass together, Wednesday night at 7:00, and then a week from tomorrow will be graduation.

 Last week eleven BGHS students travelled to Waldorf College in Forest City for the last-ever North Iowa Conference Art Show. The event honored 163 artists from across northern Iowa and featured judges from as far away as New York City. Five Garrigan students earned medals for finishing in the top three in their divisions. The highest honors went to Courtney Kirsch (who received a gold medal for digital image called “Gold”) and to Morgan Hannah (whose print “Night and Day” also earned a gold medal).

 Others receiving honors were Parker Schiltz (who brought home a silver medal for his mixed media piece “Freedom”), Kenzie Keith (who received a bronze medal for a charcoal drawing of Marilyn Monroe), and Taylor Becker (who earned a bronze for a pencil drawing called “Soul Seeker”). Sarah Skilling, Kelsey Hovey, Alex Lichter, Cady Steinman, Mariana Pacheco, and Trevor Darling also represented Bishop Garrigan at the show. Congratulations to all those students and to art teacher Sheena Weydert.

 The teachers and administrators at Garrigan and Seton recently received data that show how students at our school compared others in the Sioux City Diocese and around the state on the Iowa Assessments. While there’s always some room for improvement, overall we did pretty well. The state defines “proficient” as scoring above the 40th percentile, and the way percentiles work that means only 60% of students statewide can possibly meet that goal. At Garrigan and Seton, though, an average of 85% of students scored high enough to be considered proficient.

 The highest scores across the board were in math. At the high school 94% of students were judged proficient in that subject. In 8th grade a whopping 97% got proficient marks in science. The lowest mark was in 4th grade reading, and even there 72% of students tested well—12% more than the statewide average. Thanks to all the teachers for their hard work, and congratulations to the students for testing so well.

 We’re hoping to keep some of that success in math going for students entering high school next fall. Traditionally top students have been able to take algebra in 8th grade, but due to scheduling problems that class was not offered this year. After requests from parents, though, the school is going to be holding a special algebra camp in June. It’s a fast-track program, where Mr. Burrow will quickly go through the content of the algebra course. Eleven students are signed up for the camp, and that will allow them to take Geometry as freshmen next year.

 We began our student council elections this past week. The election for student council co-presidents was held on Tuesday. Before hand we had a traditional question and answer session with the candidates. Once that was over, students voted. When the ballots were counted, the winners were Zach Boelter and Landen Studer. We’ll let you know who won the elections for class presidents and representatives on next week’s show.


 Last Monday junior Kylie Fox and sophomore Andrew Thilges went to Ames to participate in the Iowa Youth Institute sponsored by the World Food Prize Organization. Students at the institute hear speakers talking about issues in agriculture and world relations, tour the facilities at ISU, and discuss how food affects different countries. The Garrigan students had researched food issues in Haiti, and they shared their findings with others. Kylie and Andrew are hoping to participate in the World Food Prize Symposium, which will be held in Des Moines next fall.

 Last Wednesday, instead of our normal student mass, junior high and high school students had a special service of Eucharistic benediction and adoration. Deacon Bill Black organized the service, which centered on the Blessed Sacrament, a consecrated host displayed in a luna on a monstrance. This was the first large group adoration service we’ve had in many years, though we usually have adoration during our religion classes on the first Friday of each month.

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Brittney Arndorfer and Emily Berte. Here to tell you about them is Taylor Frideres..

 Brittney Arndorfer is best known for her accomplishments in golf. She was part of the state championship team as a freshmen, and she’s played varsity all through high school. This year she’s already been a medalist at multiple meets. Brittney is also a basketball cheerleader, and away serves her church as a lector at mass.

Emily Berte will have one of the first graduation receptions among the seniors in the Class of 2015. Emily has been a cheerleader for both football and basketball all through school, and she works outside of school with baton. For two years now Emily has also been part of the varsity golf team. Both Emily and Brittney will be off to college in the fall, and we wish them all the best in the future.

 Thanks, Taylor! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, tomorrow morning is the parish baccalaureate at St. Michael’s in Whittemore. Monday we’ll have class representative elections, and that night speech, drama, band, choir, quiz, bowl, and the “Bear Facts” will all have their awards potluck.

 Tuesday is the last full day of classes for seniors. Also that day sophomores and juniors will register for fall classes at Iowa Lakes Community College. Tuesday night there’s golf at West Hancock and boys track at Algona High.

 We’ll have tryouts for next year’s cheer squad after school on Wednesday, and that night there’s the official school baccalaureate for the Class of 2015. Following mass several special awards will be presented to seniors.

 Seniors will take final exams next Thursday and Friday. Thursday night the gold teams host Garner—Hayfield and the boys track team hosts the Adam Sundall Relays.

 The girls track team runs at Eagle Grove Thursday night. Finally next Friday we’ll be hosting state large group music contest.

 That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to catch the show next week when we’ll have a special salute to the Class of 2015 here at Bishop Garrigan High School.