THE BEAR FACTS
March 11, 2023


Good morning! I’m Ella Schaaf!

I’m Violet Bode!

And I’m Abbie Capesius! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Back to back! Last weekend the Golden Bear girls basketball team won the state championship for the second straight year. The Bears got to the final game with a strong win against Martensdale—St. Mary’s in the quarterfinals and then a got a continuous clock victory over Remsen St. Mary’s in the state semifinals. In the championship they faced a tough Newell—Fonda team and had one of their closest games of the season. The Bears prevailed, though, and they ended up with a 68 – 57 win to take the state championship.

Senior Audi Crooks was named captain of the all-tournament team, and she also won the producer award and the title of Miss Iowa Basketball, an award given to the top player from all five classes combined. Audi set new records for the most points scored at state, both in a single game and a career. She shot 81% and averaged 39 points per game at state, together with more than 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots per game.




Audi will be the first to tell you the Bears couldn’t have won without her teammates. Molly Joyce led all players at state in assists, while Abbie Capesius was second only to Audi in rebounds. Abbie also averaged 2 steals per game, and Molly Joyce, Zoe Montag, Ashlyn Hovey, and Emmi Bartolo all contributed big 3-point shots. The Bears can be proud of not only winning the 1-A championship, but also beating the top team in Class 2-A earlier in the season. Congratulations, Bears!

Today the state individual speech contest is taking place at Ft. Dodge Senior High. Bishop Garrigan has eleven entries at state. Two of those entries have already performed—Violet Bode in Spontaneous Speaking and Gavin Swift in Improvisation. Right about now Savannah Waechter is performing in Prose, and in about an hour Brooke Ludwig and Sam Plathe will compete in Spontaneous Speaking.

Violet Bode will perform her prose piece at 10:30. Then Benjy Trainer competes in Improvisation. Shortly after 11:00 Brooke Ludwig will present an Expository Address, and at noon Molly Peterson competes in the Reviewing Category. Tate Foertsch is entered in the Radio News category at 2:10pm, and Savannah Waechter will finish off the day by presenting a Literary Program at 3:40pm. Best wishes at state, Golden Bear speech!

Garrigan’s spring play is next weekend. This year the drama department is presenting Angel in the Night, an inspirational true story about a Polish girl who saved the lives of four Jewish people during World War II. Ava Hough and Eva Snyder play the heroic girl at different times in her life. The cast also includes seniors Joey Doerning, Maggie Vaske, Drew Casey, Nate Bronk, and Gavin Swift.

Others in the play are Madelyn Bronk, Violet Bode, Brooke Ludwig, Alaina Casey, and Spencer Doerning; plus Sam Plathe, Benjy Trainer, Brendan Plathe, Griffin Geving, and Thadd Kollasch. Rounding out the group are Kayden Graves and Elena Salinas, Showtime is 7pm next Friday and Saturday, and admission is just $7. Be sure to see Angel in the Night on the Garrigan stage.

If you check out Garrigan this spring you’re likely to see a bunch of bags of flour and sugar dressed up with baby clothes on them. That’s because each year part of Mr. Meister’s senior religion class is a project that looks into marriage and parenting. Students need to take care of their bag babies throughout the semester, including arranging for babysitters when they aren’t available to care for them. While there’s no requirement to do so, many students go all out in decorating the bags and giving their babies real personalities.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Devon Berte. Here to tell you about him is Addie Nelson.

If you check out the student website at bggoldenbears.org, you’ll see a lot of Devon Berte’s work. He’s worked with the website for a full year now, and he’s also been involved with publications. Devon also enjoys art classes, and he’s part of the campus ministries group. He’s a Bancroft native, and after high school he hopes to continue working on the family farm. We wish Devon all the best in the future.

Thanks, Addie! On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s the state speech contest today at Ft. Dodge Senior High. Then tonight Daylight Savings Time begins.

Tomorrow is the third round of the K.C. Free Throw Contest. Registration is at 2:30, and the competition starts at 3pm. Then on Monday golf practice begins for 2023.

We’ll have reconciliation on Tuesday, and that night is the annual Academic Honors Banquet. This year that event will be in Friedmann Auditorium. Wednesday there’s no school due to teacher inservice.

Thursday the school board meets, and that night there’s a girls indoor track meet at Humboldt. The boys have an indoor track meet on Friday, and the third quarter ends that day.

The spring play is next Friday and Saturday, at 7:00 both nights. Also on Saturday Garrigan is hosting a middle school quiz bowl tournament.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to tune in again next week to hear more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.