THE BEAR FACTS
December 4, 2021


Good morning! I’m Meredith Tigges

I’m Isabel Casey!

And I’m Veronica Capesius! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

This past week was a big one for the Golden Bear danz squad. The girls were down in Des Moines for the 2022 Iowa Dance and Drill Team Association state championships. Bishop Garrigan took first place with their pom routine, and they were second in kick. We also had three solo performers entered in the contest. Lillee Deike finished second in the state, Ella Schaaf was fifth, and Avery Lichter finished eighth statewide.

The Golden Bear danz squad includes Katelyn Cink, Lillee Deike Meredith Illg, Riley Rosenmeyer, Avery Berte and Ava Kemna; pus Ellie Rosenmeyer, Violet Bode, Kyra Deike, Avery Lichter, Eva Snyder, Ella Schaaf, and Zoey Von Bank. Congratulations to all the dancers and to Coaches Ashley Meyer and Katie Warrington.

Last Tuesday the Golden Bear girls and boys basketball teams racked up big wins over Belmond—Klemme in their first conference contests. It was an especially big night for junior point guard Molly Joyce. Molly scored her 1,000th career point on a free throw Tuesday night. Congratulations to Molly and to all the Golden Bears.

Each month of this school year at Garrigan we’ve been focusing on a special religious theme as part of the “Virtues in Practice” program. The theme for December is “generosity”, and we’ll be showing some generosity next Friday as the whole school works to package food for needy people. The meals will primarily go to missions in Mississippi that our school has supported for several years.

A very popular activity in recent years is DECA. This is a business-oriented group with competitions focusing on fields like entrepreneurship, hospitality and tourism, finance, marketing, business management, and personal finance literacy. The district DECA contest will be next weekend, and after going online last year, students are looking forward to competing in person again.

Students involved in DECA include Sam Plathe, Molly Peterson, Violet Bode, Brendan Plathe, Isabel Casey, and Lillee Deike; as well as Ben Greteman, Sam Greteman, Ava Hough, and Mya Kemna. Rouding out the group are Avery Lichter, Brooke Ludwig, Riley Rosenmeyer, Ella Schaaf, and Zach Warren. Stephany Plathe, Christy Peterson, and Erin Miller help organize DECA at Garrigan. Good luck at district!

December is concert time, and next Wednesday the middle school and high school bands will hold their Christmas concert. The highlight for the high school band will be a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. Concert-goers can also watch the contrast between the fifth graders, who have just started learning music, and the more advanced junior high and high school bands.

The quiz bowl team is back in action today. After competing online in the 3—2—1 contest yesterday, they’re up in Spirit Lake for one of the oldest quiz bowl contests in the state. Garrigan has teams entered in the varsity and JV divisions. On the varsity team are seniors Marguerite Fakler, Riley Rosenmeyer, Ava Eisenbarth, and Mya Kemna, plus junior Garrett Heying. The JV team includes freshmen Molly Peterson, Thadd Kollasch, Alaina Bormann, Sam Greteman, and Brooke Ludwig. Good luck, quiz bowl!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Riley Rosenmeyer. Here to tell you about her is Maryanne Capesius.

Riley Rosenmeyer keeps busy with a wide range of activities. She’s been part of the award-winning danz squad all through school, and she’s also active in cheerleading and golf. She plays percussion in band, she’s active in DECA, and she’s part of the speech and quiz bowl teams. She was also part of the group that was commissioned as Eucharistic ministers last month. Riley will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks Maryanne! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s quiz bowl today at Spirit Lake. Then tonight the girls basketball team will face West Lyon at Johnston.

Tomorrow is the second Sunday of Advent. We’ll start the day Monday with an Advent prayer service, and then Monday night the JJV boys basketball team will be playing at Lake Mills.

The JV and varsity basketball teams host Lake Mills on Tuesday. There’s no school Wednesday because of a teacher in-service, and that night will be the Christmas band concert.

Thursday the basketball teams travel to Newell—Fonda. There’s meal packaging next Friday, and that night there’s more basketball, with the Bears playing at Eagle Grove.

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