Good morning! I'm Sarah Schmitt!
And I'm Mike McAlpine! You're listening to the "Bear Facts", the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
This morning Garrigan's band and choir members are in Garner for the solo and ensemble music contest. As we speak the first of Garrigan's competitors-the brass quartet of Tyler Rolling, Jeremiah Peters, Donnie Monson, and Jacob Richter-are getting ready to perform. They'll be followed by clarinetists Amanda Elbert and Samantha Kirsch; vocal
solists Amber Golwitzer, Jenna Hansen, and Jeff Hellman; and the percussion ensemble of Monica Studer, David Murphy, Sam Dittrich, Matt Courtney, and John Kohlhaas. After that Sam will do a snare drum solo, John will do a vocal solo, and the "Treble B" girls from varsity choir will sing "I Never Will Mary".
Other vocal solists performing today include Steven Kellner, Rebecca McGuire, Brianne Donahe, Sarah Mayer, and Cathy Hellman. There's also John Kohlhaas, Matt Courtney, and David Murphy with snare solos, Autumn Thompson with a horn solo, Steven Kellner with a marimba solo, Brooke Myers with a flute solo, and Amanda Thompson with a clarinet solo. There's a low brass quartet featuring Jeff Hellman, Chris Kohlhaas, David Laubenthal, and Scott Stence; a saxophone duet with Amber Golwitzer and Rosie Kirsch; a woodwind ensemble with Brooke Myers, Mandy Rahm, Amanda Elbert, and Rebecca McGuire, and a saxophone sextet by Nicole Elbert, Maria Paterson, Renee Taphorn, Bob Brandenburg, Tony Detrick, and Dan Raney.
Toward the end of the day there will be more vocal selections. The madrigal group will perform, followed by the mixed vocal ensemble of Jeff Hellman, Rachel McGuire, Rose Mayer, and Steve Kellner. Then the Treble A group will sing "My True Love" and "Hey Nonny", and the chamber choir performs "May the Road Rise Up to Meet You" and "Glory of the Father". Good luck to all the students performing today-as well as to their directors, Mr. Dennis Freking and Mrs. Linda Mertz.
We hope the music students will do as well as two other groups of Garrigan students who competed recently. On our last "Bear Facts" show we told you about the quiz bowl team, who sent three teams to the Eagle Grove Invitational Tournament. It turned out that all three Garrigan groups were among the top sixteen teams who made the play-offs. Two of the teams were seeded fifth and eighth and fell early in the play-offs, but the third team made it all the way to the final round and took home the second place trophy. Congratulations to Captain John Kohlhaas, Rebecca McGuire, Steven Kellner, and Matt Courtney.
There were also a lot of awards for Garrigan's business students, who competed at the Iowa Lakes Business Competition Day in Emmetsburg. Ten students volunteered to participate, and they did no special preparation for the event. Even so, they brought home thirteen medals-including two first place awards. The top group by far was Advanced Accounting, where Garrigan captured five of the top six places. Adam Rahm was first, Kevin Marso second, Jennifer Erpelding third, Eric Fouarge fourth, and Joe Hellman fifth.
Jenny Erpelding captured another first place, taking the championship in General Business Knowledge. Sarah Erdman, Lisa Even, and Katie Von Ruden placed second in the Legal Team competition, and Rahcel McGuire was third in Accounting. Rachel was also third in Business Math, while Adam Rahm finished fifth and Kevin Marson ended up sixth. Congratulations to all these students, and to business teacher Annette
Vaske.
We'd also like to congratulate Garrigan senior Bob Brandenburg, who last week completed his fourth video presentation of the Stations of the Cross. Bob has a serious interest in film-making, and for the past four years he has worked on this interest as part of Garrigan's gifted and talented program. Bob brings the historic prayer into the modern age by adapting movie clips to illustrate the point of each of the fifteen stations. This year on Holy Thursday we viewed "Stations 2002" at the Algona Theater, thanks to a special arrangement with manager Randy Reel. Everyone agreed that once again the presentation was both interesting and meaningful.
We also have a good luck wish this week for 2001 Garrigan graduate Brad Nelson. Last Thursday the Bear's all-time top player started his first full season in professional baseball, playing for the Beloit Snappers in the Class A Midwest League. Many students, teachers, and alumni are excited about Brad's assignment, because the Snappers are the closest team in the Milwaukee farm system to Algona. In fact, Brad plays his first professional game in Iowa tomorrow afternoon in Clinton, and later in the season he'll be in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Burlington.
This week's Senior Spotlight shines on Chuck Bormann and Shelly DeVries. Here to tell you about them is
Bob Brandenburg.
Charles Bormann comes to Garrigan from the St. Joe area. You might have seen his picture in the paper recently, together with a number of Algona High students. That's because, in addition to being one of Garrigan's top football players, Chuck is an officer in the FFA across town. Chuck plans a career in agribusiness. Next year he'll be off to college, and we wish him all the best.
Shelly DeVries' name most often comes up when people are talking about sports. She was one of the Bears' top girls basketball players last winter, and we're expecting her to have a good season in track this spring. Shelly also enjoys singing, and she's part of the a cappella, show, and chamber choirs. She'll also be in college in the fall. Good luck, Shelly!
Thanks, Bob! On this week's Golden Bear calendar, there's the solo and ensemble music contest today in Garner. Also this afternoon at 1:00 we'll have the intramural basketball championship at the Rochleau Center.
Tomorrow Daylight Savings Time begins. Monday there are no classes at Garrigan due to a funeral. That day Bob Brandenburg, Chris Kohlhaas, Autumn Thompson, and Steven Kellner will be honored as Outstanding Performers at the All-State Speech Festival in Cedar Falls.
Monday night the golf teams play St. Edmond, with the girls at home and the boys in Ft. Dodge. Tuesday there's girls track at Algona High, and then Wednesday the golfers face Algona.
Thursday we'll have our annual Stewardship Day, where we help clean up the school and community. There's boys track Thursday in Lake Mills and then Friday at Estherville. Then next Friday night there's the preview party for Gala 2002.
Finally this week we offer our sympathy to history teacher Ron Patterson and sophomore Jill Patterson on the loss of their father and grandfather, and we extend our prayers for development director Diane Elbert, who was diagnosed with cancer. We've had a lot of tragedies at school this year, and we continue to think about all the families who have experienced suffering and loss.
That's our first "Bear Facts" for April. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
