Good morning! I’m Nathan Frideres!
And I’m John Mosbach! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, where we’re it’s October at Bishop Garrigan High School.
Today is Algona Band Day, and the Bishop Garrigan Solid Gold Marching Band will be among the groups of musicians in town today for the competition. The band will be marching in the parade this afternoon at 1:00, and they’re scheduled to compete in the field competition at 7:00 on the Algona High football field. The award ceremony is at 10pm, and we wish the very best of luck to directors Dennis Freking and John Mallett, and the whole BGHS band.
This year’s Garrigan competition show features a jazz theme. In the parade this afternoon you’ll hear “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing”. The field show features “Zoot Suit Riot”, “You’re the Boss”, and the band’s auxiliary feature, “Jump, Jive, and Wail”. The band has performed at the home football games this fall, as well as in last week’s Homecoming parade. They’re looking forward to seeing how they fare in competition today.
Senior Corrie Stetzel and junior Amanda Freking are the field commanders for this year’s Solid Gold Marching Band. The musicians include eight seniors who have stuck with the program all through high school. They include Jesse Walker, Louie Bode, Tyler Struck, Andrew Bormann, Jenny Reinhart, Brandon Donahe, Wade MacDonald, and Josh Harp. Eighteen juniors, seventeen sophomores, and thirteen freshmen will also be tooting their horns and banging their drums in today’s competition.
Another big part of the band is the auxiliary unit, which mostly includes the flag corps. Heading up the flag girls this year is senior Katie Patterson. She’ll be working together with juniors Heather Johnson, Deanna Kohlhaas, and Kelly Kohlhaas, sophomores Bridget Hellman and Monica Studer, and freshmen Hillary Frideres and Nicole Loebig. The girls add a lot to the program, so be sure to watch for them in tonight’s show.
Music is pretty much the theme of the coming week, because as soon as band day is over, it’s time for the Catholic Choral Festival. Next Wednesday almost a third of the Garrigan students will be in Carroll for this annual celebration of music in the Sioux City Diocese. Eighty-one Garrigan students will be performing—including junior Angie Kohlhaas, who received a special invitation to be an accompanist at the event.
Among the choir members making the trip to Carroll are fourteen seniors. The veteran members of the a cappella choir include Eric Becker, Angie Weber, Dean Boever, Jessica Wagner, and Jake Kohlhaas, as well as Wade MacDonald, Katie Patterson, Tyler Struck, and Nicole Vaske. Seniors in this year’s concert choir are Anna Erpelding, Melaney Johnson, Sheena Pease, Jenny Reinhart, and Corrie Stetzel. Best wishes to them, to director Todd Herbst-Ulmer, and to the whole Garrigan choir.
Catholic Choral Festival is a very busy day. This year Professor Krieger from Morningside College in Sioux City will be directing choir students from all over northwest Iowa in an intensive vocal training session during the day. Then at night the whole group will be presenting a special concert in the Kuemper High School gymnasium. Everyone is invited to go down to Carroll for the event. Admission is just $2 for adults and $1 for students. So be sure to catch the choir in one of their biggest events of the year.
While the choir is away in Carroll, student council members will be busy with their semi-annual Adopt-a-Highway project. Twice each year student council members head over to Sexton to clean up a two-mile stretch along Highway 18. Ed Elbert and Jason Geving are this year’s student-council co-presidents. The class officers include Eric Becker and Corrie Stetzel for the seniors, Brad Nelson and Scott McGuire for the juniors, Scot Miller and Nolan Thilges for the sophomores, and Nicole Elbert and Andrea Schiltz for the freshmen. Next week we’ll let you know about all the fascinating things they and the rest of the student council found out in the ditches.
This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on two of our school’s top athletes: Angie Froehlich and John Mosbach. Here to tell you about them is Dennis Gisch.
Angie Froehlich is involved in more sports than there are seasons. This fall you’ve probably heard her name as captain of the Golden Bear volleyball team. Last spring she was the state high-jump champion in track, and she’s also been out for golf in springtime. Her favorite sport is basketball, where as a freshman she helped lead the Golden Bear girls to state. And, in her biography as a Homecoming queen candidate, Angie was proud to mention that when she was in middle school, she even played football. Angie has been recruited by a number of colleges. Her tentative choice is North Dakota State in Fargo—where she’ll be playing basketball.
John Mosbach comes to Garrigan from Whittemore. Last summer he set a school record with an errorless season in the outfield as he helped lead the Bears to the championship game at the state baseball tournament. John is one of the key players on both offense and defense in football, and he was a state-tournament sprinter in track, and he’s also one of the top players on the Golden Bear basketball team. John is also active in quiz bowl, he’s a top-notch student, and you’ve probably heard him announcing right hear on the “Bear Facts”. John will be off to college next year, and we wish both him and Angie all the best.
Thanks, Dennis! On our Golden bear calendar this week, there’s all the Band Day activities today. The parade is at 1pm, and Garrigan will be performing in the field competition tonight at 7:00.
Tomorrow there will be a special breakfast at St. Benedict. Then on Monday we’ll get out our #2 pencils for the Iowa Tests of Educational Development.
Monday night the volleyball team plays at Webster City. Also on Monday the freshman and sophomore football players will take on the Humboldt Wildcats.
ITEDs continue on Tuesday. That night the cross-country team runs at Eagle Grove. Wednesday is the Catholic Choral Festival at Carroll Kuemper, and that morning the student council will be adopting a highway in Sexton.
Thursday morning Student Council meets. We’ll be finishing up ITEDs on Thursday, and after school there’s freshman football at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond.
Next Friday the football team hosts Pocahontas. And then next Saturday is the state marching band contest in Fort Dodge.
Finally this week, we’d like to thank BGHS alumni Pete and Nancy Kayser for purchasing and delivering twenty-five tons of gravel to re-surface the Garrigan track. A big thank-you from Coach Ahlers and the track team!
That’s the “Bear Facts” for Band Day. Thanks for listening, and be sure to set your dial here again next week when we’ll bring you more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
