The Bear Facts
February 7, 2015
Good morning! I’m Tony Kollasch!
I’m Kaitlyn Fogarty!
And I’m Emily Riesenberg! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
This week we’re starting with some sad news, because there’s been a lot of sadness around Garrigan and Seton lately, and we’ve been offering our prayers to people who are mourning. Two weeks ago was the funeral for the mother of history teacher and activities director Ron Patterson, who was one of the victims of the flu outbreak that spread across Iowa this winter. Last weekend we learned that the son of Seton music teacher Sheila Laubenthal—Black had been killed in a tragic snowmobile accident.
The sad news continued this past week. On Wednesday we were shocked to learn that the father of Christian Matthews died suddenly. Christian had been part of the Garrigan Class of 2015 until his family moved to Denison last summer, and he’s still a friend of many people here. Finally on Thursday we learned that senior Carter Hall was badly injured in a snowmobile crash. Carter is doing OK, but his recovery will be a long one. We want Carter, Christian, Mr. Patterson, and Mrs. Black to know that we’re thinking of them and keeping them in our prayers. May God be with them now and always.
Fortunately there’s been a lot of good news at school as well. Last weekend the Golden Bear quiz bowl team became the first activity at Garrigan to win a North Iowa conference championship. The team of Hannah Bernhard, Dorothy Kirsch, Zach Kollasch, Tony Kollasch, and Taylor Illg was undefeated on the day, with a perfect 6 – 0 record. They sailed past all but one opponent. They narrowly beat North Iowa in the first round of completion, and then came from behind to beat them again 255 – 240 in the championship game.
A second Garrigan team also made playoffs and finished in third place in the conference tournament. That team included Devin Degen, Ben Degen, Noah Buscher, and Drew Bacha. Also competing for the Bears were Drake Buscherfeld, Chloe Garman, Andrew Thilges, Josh Hamilton, Logan Capesius, Joseph Espinosa, Sam Trainer, and Logan Besch. Congratulations to Coach David Burrow and the conference champion quiz bowl team!
Today is the state large group speech contest. Several students got up early this morning to make the trip over to Sioux City for the state contest. Garrigan has four groups performing today. One is a radio broadcasting entry that includes Mariah Bronk,. Nick Kayser, Betty Straub, and Taylor Illg. In Ensemble Acting Hannah Bernhard, Mariana Pacheco, and Dorothy Kirsch are performing a selection called “One Sneaky Mouse”.
Also among the state performers is a Musical Theatre production called “Anatomy of a Musical”. It features Mark Fakler, Taylor Illg, Dorothy Kirsch, and Morgan Frideres. The final Garrigan entry is in Group Mime. “Thieves in the Night” includes Taylor Frideres, Mariana Pacheco, and Amanda Altman. Best wishes to Coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and all the speech performers!
There’s a big event coming up at Garrigan on March 12. That night the nationally known vocal group Tonic Sol Fa will be performing in Friedmann Auditorium. This will be the first time since the group’s lead singer Shaun Johnson graduated from Garrigan that the group has performed in our school. BGHS music students will participate in a clinic with Tonic Sol Fa during the day, and the concert will be at 7:00 that night. Mark your calendar now to see Tonic Sol Fa in concert at Garrigan on Thursday, March 12.
There’s one more week left in the Bishop Garrigan magazine drive. Most sales this year are being done online, and there’s a link on the “What’s New” page at bggoldenbears.org. Prices are the lowest you’ll find anywhere, and when you order magazines or gifts through the school, 40% of what you spend helps support student activities at Garrigan. So go to bggoldenbears.org, support your favorite Golden Bear, and renew your subscriptions today.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Mariana Pacheco. Here to tell you about her is Morgan Frideres.
Mariana Pacheco Lopez mostly grew up in Costa Rica. She came to Garrigan when she was a junior, and now she lives in the Ledyard area. Since she’s been at Garrigan Mary’s biggest activity has been speech. She earned a Division I at state in Expository Address last year, she’s part of two state-bound group speech events today, and she’ll be participating in individual speech later this spring. Mariana has already earned some college credits, and she’ll be a full-time college student in the fall. We wish her all the best in the future.
On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s the state group speech contest in Sioux City today. The math team is competing at Iowa State University, and some students are taking the ACT this morning. There’s also an adult volleyball tournament at Garrigan today.
Tomorrow intramural basketball resumes. Monday we’ll have a jeans day at Garrigan. Then on Tuesday night the basketball teams travel to Armstrong to play North Union.
Wednesday will be the reward day from last fall’s calendar drive. There’s a faculty inservice that afternoon, and also that day the danz squad will hold their clinic.
Thursday girls basketball playoffs begin. Garrigan will host the regional opener, with the girls taking on North Iowa at 7:30pm.
Friday we’ll have a jeans day to raise money for the student gift for Gala. That night the boys basketball teams host North Iowa.
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.