The Bear Facts
May 2, 2026


Good morning! I’m Aidan Deitering!

I’m Nathan Leerar!

And I’m Shiloh Trainer! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, where we’re winding into the home stretch here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

This past Tuesday Bishop Garrigan senior Kayden Graves officially signed to play college football with the Wartburg College in Waverly.  Kayden is one of three seniors from the state champion Golden Bear football team who have committed to play college ball.  Carter Schwab will be playing at Northwestern College in Orange City, and Tate Foertsch will play football at Central College in Pella. Congratulations to all our college football signees.

Earlier this year girls basketball player Sacha Alesch also signed to play for the Wartburg Knights.   Sacha was recently honored by Governor Reynolds with the Governor’s Scholar Recognition Award.  This recognition is reserved for each school’s top academic senior and highlights exceptional dedication, achievement, and commitment to excellence. Congratulations to Sacha on earning this top honor.

A Garrigan freshman also won a big honor recently. Lucy Eisenbarth was honored by the Delphian Society for her outstanding work as an English student.  She received a certificate and a $100 check for her achievement.  Congratulations, Lucy!

When you think off spring sports you probably think of track or golf. We’ve saluted lots of Golden Bears who participate in those sports, and we’ve also saluted students in trapshooting and archery. Instead of those activities, sophomore Addyson Faris has chosen to play soccer as part off the Spencer Tigers team. She travels all over western Iowa, as far away as Council Bluffs, and so far the team has a perfect 9 – 0 record. Good luck to Addy and her teammates iin the rest of the soccer season.

Twelve juniors and seniors recently returned from a service trip to Mississippi. While visiting with residents of Morton and Okolona and learned about the hardships people endure living in poverty in the rural south, but they also learned about the joy and community that are created by those hardships.

Garrigan students tutored at after-school programs run by Franciscan sisters, and they also did service projects to help elderly and disabled people around the towns. They also helped out with a food pantry distribution, where they included prayer cards made by Garrigan’s elementary students.

The students who went on the Mississippi trip include seniors Amaury Thomas, Tate Foertsch, Carley Nielson, Kayden Graves, Sacha Alesch, Hailee Reutzel, and Gabe Swift; as well as juniors Leo Snyder, Matt Besch, Sheila Reding, Josephine Joyce, and Cora Deardeuff. They were accompanied by Father Zach Jones, Garrigan teachers Ashlyn Harrington and Rachel Vaske, and also Jeff Swift.

Next Tuesday we’ll have the annual DARTS awards breakfast at Garrigan. DARTS is an organization that originally supported drama, art, and speech. While the name has stayed the same, the mission has expanded to include all non-sports activities—including band, choir, quiz bowl, DECA, and the “Bear Facts”. We’ll let you know who some of the winners were on an upcoming show.

The year is almost over for the Class of 2026, and there are lots of special events to honor the seniors. Monday morning we’ll begin the day with the annual senior dog show. Seniors will also dress in clothing of the schools they’ll be going to next year. Baccalaureate mass will be next Wednesday at 7pm in the Garrigan chapel, followed by a special awards assembly. Finally the graduation ceremony will be Sunday, May 10, at 2pm.

Our final senior spotlight of the school year shines on Ava Snider. Here to tell you about her is Karson Sidles.

Ava Snider is one of the seniors being honored with a graduation reception this weekend, so it’s appropriate that we salute her this week. With springtime here, Ava has been busy with golf, where she’s one of the Golden Bears’ top players. In the fall her biggest activity is cheerleading, where she helped lead the competition squad to first place in the state. You may have also heard Ava announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. She’ll be heading to Iowa State next year, where she plans to major in interior design. Best wishes, Ava!

Thanks, Karson Sidles. On our Golden Bear calendar, several seniors will hold their graduation receptions this weekend. Today the Garrigan building is busy with the junior high hosting a big quiz bowl tournament.

Tomorrow is confirmation for the freshmen. The Bishop will confirm them at 10am at St. Cecelia’s. Monday we’ll begin the day with the senior dog show.

At the end off the day Monday we’ll celebrate the crowning of Mary. There’s trapshooting that night at Ventura, and the golfers have a coed meet at Eagle Grove.

Tuesday morning we’ll have the fine arts award breakfast. There’s track at North Union that night. The on Wednesday the seniors have baccalaureate.

Senior final exams are Thursday and Friday. The conference art show is on Thursday, and the conference track meet is Thursday night. There’s also coed golf at Algona on Thursday.

Next Friday is the seniors’ last day. There’s state large group music contest Friday night, and finally next Saturday there’s a home trapshooting meet.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Be sure to catch the show next week for our special senior farewell show, where we’ll be saluting the Class of ’26 here at Bishop Garrigan High School.