Good morning! I'm Rachel McGuire!
And I'm Steven Kellner! This is the "Bear
Facts". Happy New Year from all of us here at Bishop Garrigan High
School.
We had some kind of sad news over Christmas vacation. 1999 Garrigan graduate Adam Sundall was killed in a car wreck in Wisconsin. Adam was on his way home from college for the holidays when he was struck head on by another driver. A lot of us here at Garrigan knew Adam, and we'll definitely miss him. We'd like his whole family to know that we're thinking of them and keeping them in our prayers.
You probably know Adam Sundall best as a runner. He was a ten-time state qualifier in various running events, and he still holds the state record in cross-country. Many of the people he ran against were present at the funeral. Some of them even ran in a procession from the church to the cemetery to show their respect for one of Iowa's top athletes. As a tribute to him we've created a special memorial page on the school website. We invite you to check it online.
While you're checking the Adam's memorial, you may want to notice some of the other recent additions to the Garrigan homepage. There are now web pages for every sport and virtually all school activities. Some of the most recently added pages were for the math team and the Leadership in Action group. There's also a new page where you can listen to a variety of versions of the Garrigan school song, as well as many newly added pictures in the virtual tour. You can check everything out by visiting garrigan.unlimitedweb.net .
This past week has been semester test time at Garrigan. We always have a special schedule for semester tests-with about three tests each day over a three-day period. Tests are different in each class. Some of the exams cover everything we've learned in a class, while others mostly focus on a chapter or two. Some teachers let us use notes during the tests, while in other classes we just get by on what's in our head. There's also classes where we do projects instead of final exams. No matter what the class, though, everyone is always glad when semester tests are over.
It's intramural basketball time again at Garrigan, and lots of Garrigan students are getting ready to rumble. This year eight teams will be competing for the coveted intramural crown. This year's team captains include seniors Ben Meyer and Scot Miller-both of whose teams include members of last year's championship team. Stephanie Hilbert's team has almost every senior girl; and other team captains are Mason Elbert, Mark McGregor, Zac McGuire, Jason Lallier, and Jim Garman. Good luck to everyone involved in intramural basketball.
Next weekend, thirty-four Garrigan students will be heading down to Fort Dodge for the annual district large-group speech contest. This year in addition to coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow, Garrigan alumni Mark DeLange and Tyler Struck have been helping the Bears to prepare for contest. Garrigan has eleven entries in large-group speech this year. They'll be competing in the categories of One Act Play, Readers' Theatre, Choral Reading, Group Improvisation, and Ensemble Acting. Next week we'll tell you about all the different groups, but for now-in keeping with the long-honored theatrical tradition-we'll just offer our wishes to "break a leg" to everyone in speech.
This week's Senior Spotlight shines on Scot Miller and Adam Rahm.
Make sure you spell Scot Miller's name right. His name is "Scot"-with one "T"; he'll tell you that anyone who spells the name with two "T"s should pronounce it "Scot-t". Scot's favorite activity by far is football; he'd play the sport year-round if he could. He also enjoys intramural basketball, where his team is hoping to defend their championship this year. Scot will be off to college next year, and we wish him good luck.
Adam Rahm is a Wesley native who is also well-known for his accomplishments in football. Adam is a
National Honor Society member who also enjoys speech, music, track and intramurals. Adam will also be a college man next year. We wish him and Scot the very best in the future.
On this week's Golden Bear calendar, intramural basketball starts tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow there's also the Dorian Music Festival at Luther College in Decorah.
Monday the boys' basketball C-team hosts Emmetsburg. Then Tuesday there's JV varsity basketball, with the Bears traveling to Pocahontas. Tuesday also marks the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Sioux City.
The JV basketball teams play Wednesday, with the boys at home and the girls traveling to West Bend. Then Thursday there's a diocesan honor band in Storm Lake.
We'll dismiss early on Thursday for staff development. Friday the basketball teams travel to Clarion, and then next Saturday there's the district large-group speech contest in Fort Dodge.
That's our first "Bear Facts" for 2002. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
