October    4,    1997

Good morning! I'm Jenessa McGuire!

And I'm Jeremy Richter! Welcome to another edition of the "Bear Facts", the radio program where we keep you up to date with all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Homecoming '97 has come and gone, and we can definitely say it was a good time for everyone. Last Thursday we crowned our king and queen, and this year we're proud to say our royalty are Chuck Kohlhaas and Ruby Bode. It's interesting that both of this year's royalty come from tiny St. Benedict parish, east of Algona. In the class competition, every class won at least one event. The seniors had the best hallway, while the juniors won the float competition. The sophomores won for their pep rally skit, and the freshmen made the best hoop for our athletes to run through.

The Homecoming floats were especially interesting this year. The juniors' winning entry was a covered wagon, complete with supplies for a journey westward and a real live bear for a driver. The seniors had a boxing ring, with a Bear demolishing an Indian. The sophomores chose to celebrate "the ultimate victory" theme with a countdown to an explosion, and the freshmen had a fortune teller who was predicting victory for the Bears. The judges remarked that they hadn't seen such a variety of ideas in years.


As for the dress-up days, the seniors took top honors on Super-Hero Day, and the freshmen won Pajama Day. There was a three-way tie for Black and Gold Day winner. The seniors, juniors, and freshmen all had 100% of their class decked out in school colors. That made it a very close race going into the spirit competition Thursday night. The judges found things almost too close to call, with all four classes showing outstanding spirit. In the end, though, they gave a slight nod to the seniors. That meant the Class of '98 won this year's Homecoming class competition.

Today is a very big day for the BGHS Solid Gold Marching Band. They'll be part of the Algona Band Day competition, as they take the field tonight at 7:15. Among the band's selections are Phantom of the Opera, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, Masquerade, and Music of the Night. Mr. Dennis Freking directs the Solid Gold Marching Band, and Mrs. Mary Anderson serves as his assistant. The field commanders are Ruby Bode and Lisa Kollasch, and they oversee a group of seventy-four musicians, one of the largest bands Garrigan has fielded in years. We invite everyone to come out tonigt at 7:15 to see the Solid Gold band.

Several other students will be busy this weekend, too. The annual CROP Walk to raise money to fight world hunger will be held tomorrow. Garrigan religion teacher Sister Janet Stelken will be among the walkers, and she'll have with her an assortment of juniors in the confirmation program. One of the requirements for confirmation is completing community service projects, and the CROP Walk is just one of the ways that juniors help out by getting involved in the community. Best wishes to all the CROP walkers!


Quiz bowl season is here once again. The Bears will open their season just two weeks from today, when BGHS hosts their own invitational tournament. The Garrigan tournament has grown over the years, and now it is the biggest quiz bowl event in the state. Sixty-six teams will be at Garrigan October 18th, to match wits in the battle of the brains. The Bears have a long tradition of success in quiz bowl, and they're hoping to keep that tradition alive by bringing home more academic victories this year.

The school recently received its sportsmanship ratings for last summer's baseball season. We're proud to say that the coaches, players, and fans all rated better than the state average. A "1" means "outstanding", and "3" is the worst you can get. All of Garrigan's scores were just shy of "1". The players had the best rating, with 1.06, while the fans had 1.08, and the coaches received 1.10. We're very proud of all those ratings, and we hope to do as well in every other sport.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on our Homecoming King and Queen. King Brian Kohlhaas is known by everybody as "Chuck". He is one of this year's student council co-presidents, and his other activities include choir, intramural basketball, and co-ed danz squad routines. Chuck plans a career in business, and next year he'll be off to Iowa City and the University of Iowa. Good luck, Chuck!


Ruby Bode, our Homecoming queen, has medalled at almost every cross-country meet this year. She's also won awards in basketball and track, and you'll remember her name from the Bears' state tournament basketball team. Ruby is our other student council co-president, and she's also active in choir, speech, drama, and band. Ruby will attend Iowa State University next fall, where she'd like to major in biology. Congratulations to both Chuck and Ruby, and all the best to them in the future!

On our Golden Bear calendar, the BGHS band will participate in the field competition for Algona Band Day at 7:15 tonight. Tomorrow is the CROP Walk, and Monday the band performs again at the Classic Car Tour.

Also on Monday the volleyball teams host Eagle Grove, and the JV football squad welcomes Humboldt. Then on Tuesday morning we'll have a special assembly on accident prevention.

Tuesday night the cross-country team runs at Eagle Grove. Wednesday there' volleyball at Algona High. Then next Friday the football Bears travel to Lake Mills.

That's the "Bear Facts" for another week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to catch us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.


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