The Bear Facts
November 7, 2015


 Good morning! I’m Maddie Sullivan!

 And I’m Joseph Espinosa! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

 This has been a crazy week at school. It’s been a tiring week, but fun one, too. The Garrigan art and music departments have been very busy this week putting the finishing touches on the 2015 madrigal. This year’s show is called “Supper of Darkness”, and it was especially written for Garrigan by playwright Kevin Kelleher, thanks to a grant from the Haggard—Twogood Trust. The show is a sequel to the madrigal that was performed at Garrigan two years ago.

 There will be two madrigal performances—one at 7:00 tonight and the other at 11am tomorrow. Table guests with advanced reservations will enjoy finger foods during the show. Tickets will be available at the door for chair and bleacher seating, at a cost of $5 each. So be sure to hear some great music and see a great show at the 2015 madrigal.

 The state cheerleading championships are being held today down in Des Moines. Garrigan will be competing shortly after 10:00 this morning at the Jacobson Exhibition Hall on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. They’ll present a two and a half minute performance that includes dance and stunting, with cheers in the middle.

 At the core of this year’s cheer squad are seniors Sophia Grandgenett, Cady Steinman, Kylie Fox, and Kenzie Keith. The juniors include Sam Bormann, Chloe Garman, Danielle Plathe, Courtney Noonan, Gracie Behr, and Sarah Skilling. Also competing at state are sophomores Olivia Hall, Livia Miller, and Grace Menke. Good luck to Coach Erin Miller and the cheerleaders!

 The Golden Bear math team is starting their season today. Coach Daryl Kohlhaas is headed down to Waverly for the first math competition of the season. On math team students take tests and solve problems, working both individually and as a team. Garrigan has been very successful in math competitions over the years, and we wish good luck to this year’s team as well.

 Last Saturday four Golden Bear dancers competed at the solo dance championships sponsored by the Iowa Dance and Drill Team Association. All four Garrigan competitors—Hailey Kollasch, Courtney Noonan, Kassidy Schiltz, and Sarah Skilling—earned Division One ratings for their routines. When all the routines had been judged Courtney Noonan won the overall championship and Sarah Skilling finished in fourth place. Congratulations, dancers!

 The Golden Bear volleyball team had a great run through playoffs. They beat Lake Park last Friday night to advance to the regional final this past Wednesday. Unfortunately their sub-state opponent for the second straight year was Central Lyon, a team that has been ranked #1 for most of the season. The Bears played hard, but they ended up falling to the Lions in three straight sets. The girls finished their season with a 21 – 13 record, with almost all their losses to larger schools. Congratulations to the volleyball team on a great season!

 … And that brings us to football. At the beginning of the season most people figured this would be a “rebuilding year” for the Golden Bears, but the team proved everybody wrong. They got big wins at the start of the season against Ft. Dodge St. Edmond and Pocahontas and then cruised past most of the 1-A competition. They finished an undefeated regular season with a big win over perennial powerhouse West Hancock.

 Their strong regular season meant that the Bears would host the first three games of playoffs. They easily beat AGWSR a week ago and then got a hard-fought win over Grundy Center this past Monday to advance to the state quarterfinals and set the record for the longest winning streak in school history. We had to record this week’s show before Friday’s big game with Denver. We know the Bears played the game of their lives, though, and everyone’s hoping they’ll be returning to the Dome.

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Will Kellner. Will comes to Garrigan from the Livermore area. He’s medaled at state in track, and his speed makes him an important part of the Golden Bear football team. Will has also lettered in both baseball and basketball. He’s an honor student who enjoys working on the school website, and he also serves as president of his 4-H club. Will is looking at studying either engineering or electrical work in college, and we wish him all the best in the future.

 Thanks,. On our Golden Bear calendar today there’s the state cheerleading finals in Des Moines and a math competition in Waverly. Tonight is the madrigal dinner, and tomorrow morning is the brunch performance of madrigal.

 Monday girls basketball practice begins. Also that day many high school students will be headed to Mall of America as their reward for selling lots of calendars back in September.

 We’ll have parent—teacher conferences after school on Monday and Tuesday. This year conferences will be in the teachers’ classrooms at Garrigan. Monday night the School Improvement Advisory Committee will meet.

 Wednesday many students will be back in the Twin Cities—this time for a performance of Sister Act at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. We’ll have a special Veterans Day prayer service that morning, and there’s also an early dismissal for teacher inservice on Wednesday.

 There’s no school at Garrigan next Friday, as the teachers’ comp day for conferences. The state football semi-finals will be held at the UNI-Dome that day. Several students will be participating in the North Central Honor Choir that Day.

 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.