The Bear Facts
April 5, 2025


Good morning! I’m Thadd Kollasch!

I’m Isabella Waechter!

And I’m Spencer Doerning! 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.

Garrigan’s 36th annual Gala is done, and it was one for the record books. The live auction, silent auction, and Pick Your Passion donations all set new records. When everything was added up Gala 2025 brought in more than $448,000, which is $18,000 more than the previous record. Thanks to everyone who helped make the Rock and Royal Gala a big success!

With Gala in the books, it’s time for Prom 2025. Almost all the juniors and seniors will be attending, together with their dates. This year’s prom theme is “Casino Night”. The doors open at 7pm, and class pictures will be taken at 7:45. Everyone is invited to the Grand March, which starts at 8:00, and the big dance will follow that.

For nearly three decades now, prom night has led into after-prom. One of the features of this year’s after-prom is an escape room that people will work together to get out of. There’s lots of other fun and games too, and lots of opportunities to win prizes. It should be a great night for everybody.

Two different groups from Bishop Garrigan had some success this past week. First there’s the Envirothon team. In the Envirothon teams of students work together to answer online questions about agriculture, forestry, and biology overall. Again this year the Golden Bears were one of the top eight teams that advance to state.

Brooke Ludwig was the only senior on this year’s Envirothon team. She competed together with juniors Ethan Marso, Kegan Berte, Kyle Bormann, Zeke Elbert, Ava Roethler, and Amaury Thomas. The state Envirothon will be April 28, and the team will be competing in person down in Ames. Congratulations to the Envriothon team!

Last Tuesday Garrigan’s Viva Voce jazz choir went down to Dallas Center for the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships. Choirs had to audition to even compete in this competition, and not only was Bishop Garrigan accepted, but they ended up in sixth place in Class 1-A. The songs they sang included Frank Sinatra’s “L – O – V – E”, Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes”, and the jazz standard “Take Five”.

The Viva Voce jazz choir includes Rose Curtis—Ricke, Addy Laubenthal, Drew Muller, Kyle Bormann, and Cora Deardeuff, as well as Lilly Wickman, Gabe Swift, Tate Foertsch, and Sacha Alesch. Other singers in the jazz choir are Amaury Thomas, Alice Casey, Kylie Capesius, and Matt Besch. Rounding out the group are Shiloh Trainer, Madelyn Tigges, Aidan Dietering, Kayden Graves, and Eva Kohlhaas. Congratulations, jazz choir!

Father Zach Jones organized two events this past week to help Garrigan students learn more about religious vocations. Early in the week several girls went on what they called the “Nun Run”. They visited a convent in central Minnesota and learned what life is like for the sisters there. Then on Thursday and Friday a group of boys made a visit to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota.

Two Bishop Garrigan alumni will be the next two priests ordained by the Sioux City Diocese. Jake Rosenmeyer is in his final year at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis. He was ordained a transitional deacon last summer, and on June 7 he’ll be ordained a full priest. Thomas Kollasch is studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and he should be ordained a year from now. Thanks to these graduates for devoting their life to the church.

The Bishop Garrigan spring play is just a week away. Next Friday and Sunday we’ll be presenting Clue, which is based on the traditional board game. You’ll see Isabella Waechter as Miss Scarlett, Spencer Doerning as Professor Plum, Shiloh Trainer as Mrs. Peacock, Tate Foertsch as Colonel Mustard, Amaury Thomas as Mr. Green, and Delaney Fessler as Mrs. White. Matt Besch will star as Mr. Boddy.

Others in the cast are Griffin Geving, Cora Deardeuff, Kylie Capesius, Madelyn Tigges, Leo Snyder, Alice Casey, and Kayden Graves; as well as Alaina Bormann, Aiden Dietring, Eva Kolhaas, Henry Bode, and Sawyer Herrick. Brooke Ludwig is the student director. Showtimes will be Friday, April 11th at 7pm and Sunday, April 13th at 2:00. Be sure to mark your calendar and see Clue.

Our senior spotlight this week is the last one we’ll have this year. It shines on Reece Kemna, and here to tell you about her is Scott Bormann.

Reece Kemna spent most of her time at Garrigan as part of the Class of 2026. She’s one of two juniors who will be graduating early though, together with the Class of 2025. Reece’s biggest activities at Garrigan have been cheerleading and DECA. She’ll also have lots of college credits under her belt when she graduates from high school. She plans to go to nursing school next year, and we wish Reece all the best in the future.

Thanks, Scott. On our Golden Bear calendar, the trapshooting team is hosting a home meet at the Izaak Walton Lodge this morning. Several students are also taking the ACT over at Algona High.

Tonight is Prom Night 2025. Monday golf season begins. The boys will host Spencer and Humboldt, while the girls are playing at Spencer.

Tuesday the sophomores will attend a career day at Iowa Lakes. Tuesday night the girls track team runs at Clear Lake. We’ll have mass on Wednesday, and there’s another home trapshooting meet that night.

Also Wednesday night the music department will have a meeting with information about a trip to Orlando next year. Thursday there’s a coed golf meet at North Union, the boys track team runs in Clarion, and there’s girls track at Eagle Grove.

Next Friday Garrigan will be hosting a blood drive from 9am to 12:30pm. Finally Friday night is the first performance of Clue.

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