THE BEAR FACTS
October 2, 2021
 

Good morning! I’m Mya Kemna!

I’m Isabel Casey!

And I’m Veronica Capesius! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where we keep you up to date on all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

If you happened to listen to last week’s “Bear Facts”, you probably noticed that there was a problem with the CD on which the show was recorded. We apologize for the issue, and we’ve worked to keep it from happening again. We also want you to know that you can hear last week’s full broadcast and any other show you miss by going to the Bishop Garrigan student website at bggoldenbears.org. Both the scripts and recordings of shows are archived there. Be sure to check out the “Bear Facts” section at bggoldenbears.org.

This past week has been a fun one at BGHS. We’ve been celebrating Garrigan’s 63rd Homecoming. We welcomed alumni back not only for the football game last night, but also for a special “Bear Buzz” get-together in the Garrigan chapel. We also enjoyed dressing up to celebrate evens that take place through the year—Christmas, birthdays, the 4th of July, Halloween, and of course a Golden Bear victory.

For the past the past twenty-five years, a big part of Homecoming has been “Game Day”, where classes compete in events like, volleyball, kickball, wiffleball, bean bag toss, trivia, kan jam, dodgeball, pie and hot dog eating, Gatorade chug, egg toss, tug-of-war, and a ball gathering game called “The Final Countdown”. This year the seniors were the big winners on game day, followed by the sophomores, juniors, and freshmen.

An important part of Homecoming each year is the royalty. The royal court for 2021 included queen candidates Meredith Tigges, Annie Burns, Emma Grandgenett, Veronica Capesius, and Ella Muller; as well as king candidates Jacob Leerar, Quinn Swift, Grant Haugland, Hollis Bode, and Collin Casey. When the votes were counted, the winners were King Jacob Leerar and Queen Veronica Capesius. Congratulations, Veronica and Jacob!

After the coronation, the royalty visited the little kids at Seton and also area nursing homes. Residents at the care centers commented on how beautiful the girls’ dresses were, and they also said the boys “cleaned up nice”. We’re glad we were able to celebrate our Homecoming with other people in the community.

A long tradition at Homecoming is a clinic the Golden Bear cheerleaders host for little girls at Seton and Garrigan. All the cheerleaders help lead the clinic. This year’s Golden Bear spirit squad includes seniors Katelyn Cink, Riley Rosenmeyer, Lillee Deike, Meredith Illg, Ava Eisenbarth, and Marguerite Fakler; plus juniors Savannah Waechter Avery Berte, Emma Bacha, Zoey Von Bank, Ellie Rosenmeyer, and Ava Kemna. Rounding out the squad are sophomores Ava Hough and Ella Schaaf and freshman Isabella Waechter. Thanks to the cheerleaders for all their hard work.

The Golden Bear cross-country team ran in one of their biggest meets of the season Monday night. They faced tons of big schools at the Algona Invitational. While their team showing wasn’t that great, a lot of the Bears did well individually. Quinn Swift continued his medal streak for the boys, and Xander Darling ran his season best time. On the girls side both Veronica Capesius and Abbie Capesius ran personal best times. Congratulations, runners!

Today is Algona Band Day, and with the event back to taking place in person, Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band is looking forward to being part of the competition. They’ll be marching in the parade at 1pm and then taking part in the field contest at 6:00. Xander Darling and Meredith Tigges are the drum majors for this year’s show, which is called “Keep It Moving”. The show includes the songs “Life Is a Highway”, “Dancing Queen”, “Vehicle” and “Fly Like an Eagle”. There are thirty-eight members of the band this year, and we wish them all the best in today’s competition.

Next Wednesday BGHS will host the Sioux City Diocese Catholic Choral Festival. 175 students from Sioux City Heelan, Ft. Dodge St. Edmond, Carroll Kuemper, and LeMars Gehlen will join Garrigan’s choir students as they spend the day practicing with director Jeremiah Cawley from Loras College. There will be a free concert Wednesday night at 7:00 to show off the singers’ talent.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on our Homecoming King, Jacob Leerar. Here to tell you about him is Meredith Illg.

Jacob Leerar is a year-round athlete. He’s a lineman in football, he went to state in both basketball and golf, and he’s also a pitcher and third baseman on the baseball team. He contributed to the senior class at Homecoming by being the last man standing in the dodgeball competition. Aside from sports, Jacob is involved with publications, and away from school you might see him working at Bomgaar’s. We wish him good luck when he goes off to college next year. Congratulations to Jacob Leerar, our 2021 Homecoming king.

Thanks, Meredith. On our Golden Bear calendar, today is Algona Band Day, with the parade at 1:00 and the field contest at 6pm. Then tomorrow the 10th graders will celebrate confirmation.

Monday is the first of three matches the volleyball team will play this week. They’ll be at Webster City that night, and there’s also JV football at North Iowa.

We’ll have mass Tuesday morning. The volleyball team hosts West Hancock for Senior Night on Tuesday, and the cross-country team will be running at Eagle Grove.

Wednesday Garrigan will host the Catholic Choral Festival. The festival concert will be at 7:00 that night. Thursday there’s more volleyball, with the Bears hosting Newell—Fonda. There’s also a home swim meet Thursday night at the Algona YMCA.

We’ll have a school rosary Friday morning. That night the football team will wrap up their home season by playing GTRA. The danz squad will serve a chili and cinnamon roll supper before the game.

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