THE BEAR FACTS
October 7, 2023
 

Good morning! I’m Violet Bode!

I’m Ella Schaaf!

And I’m Abbie Capesius! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you in touch with Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last weekend Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band was part of Algona Band Day. The band had a good day, finishing in first place in their division in the parade. They also gave their best performance to date in the field competition. While they finished in second place there, the placing was mostly due to the odd scoring system that penalizes bands that don’t have a flag corps.

Having no auxiliary won’t be an issue today when the band competes at state in Ft. Dodge. Under state judging rules, it doesn’t matter whether bands have a flag corps or not. The band will be presenting their program “The Music of Grease” at 9:30 this morning at Dodger Stadium. Best wishes to band director Katherine Wiemers and the Solid Gold Marching Band!

The Walk and Pray fundraiser ended this past week, and we made our overall goal. The fundraiser brought in around $55,000, which will be used for transportation needs—like new buses and suburbans—and classroom supplies like textbooks and online subscriptions. Thanks to everyone who donated to help make Walk and Pray a big success!

We featured our football team’s success on the “Bear Facts” earlier this fall. The varsity team is only part of the story, though. The JV football team has also been having an outstanding season. The JV team is undefeated, with big wins against teams from all over the area. The JV team is heavy on freshmen and sophomores, but also features juniors who don’t start varsity. Among those responsible for the JV success are juniors Daniel Meis, Wyatt Rosenmeyer, Drew Muller, Thadd Kollasch, Nick Thul, Isaac DeLange, Scott Bormann, and Nick Leerar.

The younger JV players include sophomores Kyle Bormann, Carter McGregor, Lucas Behounek, Kollyn Wiemers, Kayden Graves, Konner Kramer, and Gibson Menke. The JV team also features freshmen Michael Joyce, Dalton Klenz, Weston Rosenmeyer, Carson Pfeffer, Marshall Bormann, and Leo Snyder; plus Matt Besch, Madden Miller, Sawyer Herrick, Nate Leerar, Aiden Deitering, Eli Casey, and Milo Geving. All those JV players give depth to the varsity squad and have helped the whole football team succeed this year. Congratulations to the JV team on a great season!

Tomorrow is a big day for many of those JV players. Most of Garrigan’s sophomores will be receiving the sacrament of confirmation. The confirmation mass will be tomorrow at 1pm at St. Cecelia’s. Bishop Nickless will be on hand for the event. Best wishes to the sophomores as they begin this new phase in their faith life.

Thirteen Garrigan seniors are also working to further serve their church. Later this year they will be installed as extraordinary ministers of holy communion. Violet Bode, Ben Trainer, Lauren Swift, Madelyn Bronk, Abbie Capesius, Ella Schaaf, Brendan Plathe, Alaina Casey, Kyra Deike, Reagan Murphy, Avery Lichter, Ava Hough, and Ethan Kuper are undergoing training and will later be distributing the Eucharist at both school and parish masses.


Two Garrigan coaches were recently honored as CYO coaches of the year. It’s not really surprising that one of them was girls basketball coach Brandon Schwab. He coached the Golden Bears to back-to-back state championships as well as four Top of Iowa Conference championships. Also receiving a CYO award was girls golf coach Steph Ehlers. In her first year as coach, the young Golden Bear team finished fifth at regionals, but Avery Lichter advanced to state and finished 3rd overall. Congratulations to Coach Schwab and Coach Ehlers on their CYO awards.

This past week was National 4-H Week. Dozens of Garrigan students are part of 4-H, including several high school students who are part of clubs both in rural areas and in town. They’re among 4-H-ers all over the country who pledge their head, heart, hands, and health to make the world a better place.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Ethan Kuper. Here to tell you about him is Brendan Plathe.

Ethan Kuper will be down in Ft. Dodge this morning for the state marching band contest. Besides music, Ethan’s biggest activities take place on golf courses. In fall he works to improve his 5-K time in cross-country, and in the spring he leads the Golden Bear golf team. Ethan will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Brendan! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s state marching band in Ft. Dodge at 9:30 today. Then tomorrow there’s confirmation for the sophomores.

Next week is National Fire Safety Week. Monday there’s cross-country in Forest City. The JV football team will play St. Edmond that night, and there’s also a swim meet at Spencer.

We’ll have picture retakes on Tuesday after mass. The volleyball team plays at Algona High Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday the seniors will have our class photo taken.

Thursday is the reward day from Walk and Pray. The Top of Iowa Conference cross-country meet is Thursday afternoon at NIACC in Mason City. Friday is an out of uniform day to raise money for Gala.

The football team has their last regular season game on Friday, when they’ll host Harris Lake Park. The danz squad will serve a chili and cinnamon roll supper at the game. Then next Saturday Garrigan will host its thirty-third annual quiz bowl tournament.

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