The Bear Facts
September 8, 2018

Good morning! I’m John Meis!

I’m Bryce Capesius!

And I’m Jordan Hansen! Welcome to a special edition of the “Bear Facts”, where we’re getting ready for Homecoming 2018 here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

The doors first opened at Garrigan in 1959, so we’re celebrating our 60th Homecoming this year. We’re celebrating the magic of the movies for this year’s Homecoming, with the theme “Lights! Camera! Action!” There are a lot of changes in Homecoming this year, compared with the past. One is a different number of royalty. This year we have four king and four queen candidates: Megan Besch, Madelyn Cink, Cacy Steinman, Emma Thul, John Capesius, Billy Erpelding, Eric Thul, and Gabe Trainer.

Another big change is when the coronation ceremony will be. For the first time since any of us has been alive, we’ll be crowning our king and queen during the school day. The coronation will be at 1:00 next Monday, September 10, in Friedmann Auditorium. We’ll have a big all-school pep rally afterwards, and then the king and queen will reign over all the events of Homecoming week.

We’ll have the traditional dress-up days for Homecoming Week. Monday will be Super-Hero Day, and Tuesday is Celebrity Day. Wednesday is Class Color Day. The seniors will be wearing black that day, the juniors will be in white, the sophomores in blue, and the freshmen in yellow. There’s even a faculty color. All the teachers will be decked out in pink on Wednesday.

The annual Battle of the Classes will be Wednesday. That includes competitions in kickball, volleyball, trivia, Twister, ultimate Frisbee, bean bag toss, home run derby, dodgeball, hot dog and pie eating, Gatorade chugging, egg toss, and tug-of-war. Thursday will be Horror Movie Day, and Friday we’ll end the week with the traditional school colors, black and gold. The classes will have a lip sync contest Friday afternoon.

The cross-country team gets a head-start on Homecoming, as they run in the CYO meet in Holstein this afternoon. They’re also running at Emmetsburg on Monday. The volleyball team is at Home against North Union on Tuesday, and they have a tournament at Algona High next Saturday. Then there’s the big Homecoming football game next Friday, when the Bears host Ft. Dodge St. Edmond.

Also on Friday we’ll begin the day with our annual Homecoming mass. This year former St. Cecelia’s pastor Fr. Paul Eisele will be back to celebrate mass. That’s especially appropriate since Fr. Eisele was in Garrigan’s first graduating class sixty years ago. Other events include the big parade at 2:00 Friday afternoon and the annual Homecoming dance following the game.

At the Homecoming game next Friday we’ll be dedicating the new Bishop Garrigan track. For sixty years there was just an oval of dirt around our football field, and we had frequent problems with flooding and mud. The most recent of the school’s capital projects was a new track with a solid, all-weather surface. We’ve been putting the finishing touches on the new track this fall, and we’ll be honoring everyone who donated to it at Homecoming.

The other big fundraising campaign that’s going on right now is to build a new chapel at Garrigan. With more and more grades being added to our building, the chapel we’ve used for sixty years is no longer able to fill our needs. The new chapel will be built near the elementary classrooms, but it will serve the whole school. It will include artifacts salvaged from St. Benedict Church in an architectural setting that blends old and new.
While we’ve got the bulk of the project funded, we’re still looking for additional donors to help out with the project. If you’d like to help, we encourage you to contact Garrigan President Lynn Miller, Spiritual Director Jake Rosenmeyer, or Development Director Mindy Laubenthal. We’d like to have the new chapel be part of the school’s sixtieth anniversary next year.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on one of our Homecoming queen candidates, Madelyn Cink. Here to tell you about her is Aidan Connor Koob.

Madelyn Cink is a Wesley native whose many activities include FFA, 4-H, football cheerleading, and track. Away from school she loves showing livestock, and she’s employed by Hillside Golf Course and two different cattle companies. Madelyn will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best in the future.

On our Golden Bear calendar for Homecoming week, there’s CYO cross-country today in Holstein. Then tomorrow the Garrigan choir will perform as part of the Music for the Heart concert at the Wilcox center, with a free will offering going to relief in Haiti.

Monday at 1pm we’ll have the Homecoming coronation and pep rally. There’s cross-country at Emmetsburg that night, plus JV volleyball at Lake Mills and JV football at Mason City Newman.

Tuesday the volleyball team hosts North Union. Wednesday we’ll have the Battle of the Classes at the high school, and there’s an early dismissal that afternoon.

Next Friday we’ll start the day with mass at the high school. We’ll have a lip sync competition after lunch. The homecoming parade is at 2:00 down State Street. That night the junior class will serve a meal before the Homecoming football game.

The Golden Bears will welcome perennial rival St. Edmond for Homecoming. After the game there will be a dance in Friedmann Auditorium. Then next Saturday there’s varsity and JV volleyball at Algona, and the JJV team will be at North Union.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week as we sum up Homecoming here at Bishop Garrigan High School.