Good morning! I'm Eric Cassmann!
And I'm Cassie Recker! This is "The Bear Facts". Thanks for joining us to hear all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
They say that all good things must come to an end, and we're sad to say that this past week the Bears ended one of their best basketball seasons ever. By some measures, it was the best season ever. The 2003 - 2004 Golden Bears tied the school record for most wins ever set a new record for best winning percentage in school history. They also won Garrigan's first-ever North Central Conference basketball championship. Only the 1993 team that made it to state could argue to have done better overall than this year's team.
While the Bears should continue to be a contending team for the next couple of years, they will definitely miss the graduating senior starters. Adam Arndorfer is without question one of the top basketball players in the state and should be an easy choice as an all-conference selection. Brent Shillington has also been a scoring threat in the middle who also racked up the rebounds. Scott Stence is a quality point guard, and Aaron O'Kane plays solid defense and is always a threat to shoot three-pointers. Next year the Bears will look to Derek Tindall, Matt Vitzthum, Mark Parrish, Cole Vautier, and Matt Courtney to form the core of their team, together with younger players like Bobby Geelan, Dan Garman, Nathan Pierson, and Gavin Freking. We hope this year's basketball success sets the standard for the future.
Last Saturday Garrigan hosted the district individual speech contest, and the home team had an incredibly successful day. Out of twenty-three entries, nineteen earned Division One ratings, which qualify the speakers to advance to state contest later this month. Students earning ones include Eric Cassmann, Chris Loebach, and Amber Golwitzer-each of whom got two "excellent ratings"-as well as Samantha Kirsch, Cassie Recker, John Kohlhaas, Jesse Bode, Alex Elbert, and Garrison Brosnan. Other ones went to Brooke Myers, Nancy Syharath, Sadie Foertsch, Anna Bormann, Josh Broesder, Kathy Prelowski, and Amanda Golwitzer. The four Division Two or "good" ratings went to Jacob Hellman, Logan Wood, Brandon Rowley, and Joann Kirsch. Congratulations to Coaches Mary McCall and Sarah Freking and the whole speech team.
It's Lent, a time to sacrifice and help out those in need. This year Garrigan students are joining together with the students from Gehlen Catholic High School in LeMars for Mission Honduras. For several years now Gehlen has been sponsoring a mission clinic in El Guante, a little village in the mountains of Central America. This year as a Lenten project Garrigan and Seton are gathering supplies for the clinic and for the Honduran people. In future years we may join together with Gehlen students in traveling to Honduras for work projects. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the world, and they can really use our help.
If anyone listening can help out, we encourage you to donate what you can. Mission Honduras is looking for toothpaste, toothbrushes, aspirin or other pain relievers, adult and children's vitamins, lotion, and soap. We're also gathering gifts for Honduran kids such as small toys, stickers, bubbles, hair accessories, and nail polish. Any new items in these categories would be appreciated. There are drop boxes located both at Garrigan and at the Algona Hy-Vee store. With your help, we can build a better life for the people in Central America.
Confirmation is here. Ever since last fall freshmen at Garrigan and in the surrounding Catholic parishes have been preparing for this special rite of passage. Tomorrow afternoon candidates from our area will be confirmed as full members of the Catholic Church in a special ceremony at St. Cecelia's. This year's confirmation ceremony was moved up about a month and a half from when it was originally scheduled. That's because Bishop Daniel DiNardo will soon be leaving the Sioux City Diocese. He was recently promoted to be Bishop of the Diocese of Houston, Texas. Confirming this year's freshmen is one of the last acts he'll be performing before leaving this area.
Our senior spotlight this week shines on David Laubenthal and Adam Long. Here to tell you about them is Scott Stence.
David Laubenthal is a National Honor Society member who comes to Garrigan from the Wesley area. He is active in both 4-H and FFA and enjoys riding horses in his spare time. After high school, David plans to attend Iowa State University, where he plans to major in an agriculture-related field. Good luck, Dave!
Adam Long enjoys art and computer classes at Garrigan. His past activities have included football, and he also enjoys playing the guitar. After high school, he plans to go to school to become a welder. We wish both Adam and Dave all the best in the future.
Thanks, Scott. On our Golden Bear calendar, the Garrigan math team is in Sioux Center today for a Great Plains Math League competition at Dordt College. Tomorrow we'll have intramural play-offs at 12:30 and confirmation for the freshmen is at 3pm.
Parent-teacher conferences are next Monday and Tuesday, starting at 3:30pm at the Rochleau Center. Monday during the day many Garrigan students will participate in a blood drive at Algona High.
Tuesday afternoon we'll have the Sacrament of Reconciliation at St. Cecelia's. Also that day the law class is scheduled to observe a trial in progress. Then on Wednesday the Peer Helper class will visit Elmore Academy in Minnesota.
Wednesday night is the annual Academic Banquet, where we honor the school's best and brightest. Then Thursday we'll have the awards potluck to honor the boys basketball team. There's no school next Friday, and that day Garrigan graduate Angie Froehlich will be playing in the NCAA women's basketball play-offs in St. Paul.
That's the "Bear Facts" for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week to hear all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
