Good morning! I’m Zac Kibby!
I’m Devin Degen!
I’m Mallory Schiltz!
And I’m Joseph Espinosa! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, your weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.
With the strange weather and other disruptions this spring, student council elections were postponed repeatedly. However, this week we finally elected our officers for next year. On Monday we elected Nicole Behr and Sydney McNertney to be the student council co-presidents next year. We selected class presidents on Wednesday. Michael Berke and Dillon Walker will lead next year’s senior class, Ben Vaske and Andrew Miller will head up the juniors, Zach Boelter and Landen Studer are the sophomore co-presidents, and Samantha Bormann and Miranda Book will lead next year’s freshman class.
Student council representatives were elected on Thursday. The seniors-to-be chose Connor Langermann and Corey Weydert to represent them. Next year’s junior class will be represented by Cassidy Vitzthum and Betty Straub, while the sophomore reps are Olivia Vaske and Michael Condoleon. Finally the Class of 2017 elected Ben Fogarty and Levi Capesius as their representatives.
Our annual community service day was first postponed due to cold weather and then cancelled by rain. However seven students braved the showers on Thursday to fulfill the school’s contract for Adopt-a-Highway. Garrigan has cleaned up the stretch of highway 18 by Sexton twice each year ever since 1992, and the school has been cited by the state for its outstanding work on the project. This year Neal Koob, Dillon Walker, Kristian McGuire, Logan Besch, Jacob Berte, Stephen McCall, and Devin Degen joined student council moderator David Burrow in keeping up that clean-up tradition.
Last Thursday the Golden Bears ran at the state qualifying track meet. While the final results were not known when we recorded this because meets in other areas were suspended, we do know that both the boys and girls teams each have automatic state qualifiers. On the girls side Erin Reedy won the 3000-meter run, and the distance medley and 4x400 relays were also regional champs. For the boys Brayton Loss won the long jump, and Adam Hamilton won the 110-meter high hurdles. We’re hoping other events will be joining those down in Des Moines next week for the state meet.
Tomorrow the BGHS Class of 2013 will walk across the stage and say goodbye to Garrigan for the final time. The commencement ceremony is at 2pm, and as always KLGA will be covering the event live. For the first time in memory, two students—Dustin Miller and Amelia Golwitzer—will give the senior farewell speech, and Class Presidents Jake Kollasch and Thomas Bradley will present the class gift—a donation toward the capital campaign to build a new gymnasium.
The seniors chose bright orange and camouflage for their class colors, and they selected the blaze orange gerbera daisy for their class flower. Their motto is “Remember yesterday, dream for tomorrow, live for today.” Fifty seniors will be walking across the stage to receive their diplomas this year, including three who officially graduated back at the end of first semester.
Many awards were presented to seniors following the baccalaureate mass last Wednesday. Among the most prestigious, Shawn Vaske won the D.A.R. Award and Bobby Plathe received a special Service Above Self cup from the art department. Logan Kumm, Amelia Golwitzer, and Noelle Vitzthum were honored for their outstanding volunteer service, and Dustin Miller received a gold pin for his outstanding accomplishments in a wide range of activities.
Each department also honored its top students. Rebecca Richter received this year’s art award; while Jamie Baumann, Erica Carlson, and Grace Steil were honored in business. Noelle Vitzthum won the English honors, and the technology honoree was Jason Reding. The foreign language award was split among Andrea Gisch, Amelia Golwitzer, Aubrie Meyers, and Dustin Miller.
Allison Frideres was the top math student, and she split science honors with Noelle Vitzthum. Jake Kollasch won the social studies award. Shawn Vaske and Matthew Fakler were honored in speech, Amelia Golwitzer and Dustin Miller received the drama award, and Erica Carlson got a special award for her work on the theatre tech crew.
Vocal music honors went to Matthew Fakler, Melanie Mergen, Dustin Mller, Grace Steil, and Shawn Vaske; and Matthew and Shawn shared the band award with Janet Kenyon. In theology Erica Carlson, Makayla Foertsch, Allison Frideres, Melanie Mergen, and Aubrie Meyers were honored for religious studies; Victor Berte, Amelia Golwitzer, Alissa Kirsch, Logan Kumm, and Noelle Vitzthum received service recognitions; and Thomas Bradley, Melissa Kellner, Janer Kenyon, Dustin Miller, Erin Reedy, and Shawn Vaske were cited as Christian role models.
Many athletic awards were also presented. John Burns and Erin Reedy were named Athletes of the Year by the Mason City Globe—Gazette. Erica Carlson and Sean Dyson received the Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete Award, and Victor Berte and Aubrie Meyers were honored with the Army Reserve Scholar/Athlete Award.
The Ray Dorweiller Track Award was split by Elliot Boisjolie, Chelsi Lanus, Aubrie Meyers, and Erin Reedy; while the Algona Officials Association presented scholarships to Jake Kollasch and Erica Carlson. Adam Hamilton, Haley Froehlich, and Aubrie Meyers split the G-Club Award; and the PRIDE Award went to Elliot Boisjolie, John Burns, Chelsi Lanus, and Erin Reedy. Jake and Chelsi were named the Outstanding Male and Female Student Athletes, and Dustin Miller received the Bernie Saggau Award for all-around success in activities.
Our last Senior Spotlight for the year shines on Nicole Grein. Here to tell you about her is Logan Besch.
Nicole Grein is a National Honor Society member whose biggest activity over the years has probably been choir. She’s also active in Christian Leadership in Action. Nicole is planning to go to Iowa next year, and we wish her—like everyone in the Class of 2013—the very best of luck in the future.
On our Golden Bear calendar, tomorrow is Mother’s Day and the Feast of the Ascension. Garrigan’s graduation ceremony will start at 2pm, and you can hear it here on KLGA.
The girls golf team will host districts Monday at Spring Valley. Wednesday we’ll have our final school mass of the year, and that night there’s a meeting for next year’s football players.
Thursday is our first snow make-up day. There’s boys district golf at Spencer that day. Finally the state track meet will be next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
