Bear Facts - November 15

Good morning! I’m Jenna Boelter!

I’m Alisa Altman!

And I’m Drew Bacha! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last Saturday the Golden Bear quiz bowl team had one of their best days ever when they competed in the Bulldog Bowl over at Algona High School. Three different teams from Garrigan participated in the tournament, and all three of them did very well. Our top team—with Hannah Bernhard, Mark Fakler, Zach Kollasch, and Devin Degen—was undefeated on the day and won the overall championship.

The second team from Bishop Garrigan—which featured freshmen Ben Degen, Drew Bacha, Noah Buscher, and Sam Trainer—was seeded sixth going into playoffs. They fell in the quarterfinals to the #3 seed from North Iowa. The third Golden Bear team included Taylor Illg, Joseph Espinosa, Ben Fogarty, and Andrew Thilges. That team had a 3 – 1 record after the preliminary rounds and just missed making playoffs.

The win qualifies the Bears to make their sixteenth trip to the National Academic Championships. Nothing is final yet, but most likely the team will head to the Washington, D.C. area late next May. Congratulations to Coach David Burrow and all the quiz bowl team!

Next Tuesday ten Garrigan students will be inducted as new members of the National Honor Society. NHS honors excellence in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. The present form of the organization has been active at Garrigan since 1985. This year’s inductees include seniors Kirk Kenyon and Tyler Schnurr; plus juniors James Quinlin, Landen Studer, Olivia Vaske, Johanna Vaske, Maddie Sullivan, Kylie Fox, Devin Degen, and Carolyn Baxter.

The National Honor Society induction ceremony will be next Tuesday at 2pm. The new inductees will join second-year members Dorothy Kirsch, Reece Wadle, Nick Kayser, Amanda Altman, Hannah Bernhard, Tony Kollasch, Taylor Illg, and Cassidy Vitzthum. Other returning NHS members include Paige Berte, Patricia Brandt, Betty Straub, Morgan Frideres, Zach Kollasch, and Emily Marlow.

The rest of the National Honor Society members include Ben Vaske, Andrew Miller, Taylor Frideres, Emily Riesenberg, Gaby Steil, Kairlyn Fogarty, Mark Fakler, and Courtney Carlson. Mrs. Linda Peterson is in charge of National Honor Society, and she invites everyone to the ceremony Tuesday at 2pm. Congratulations, National Honor Society!

Last Sunday the Golden Bear football team held their annual awards potluck. In addition to many local awards, this year the Bears were proud to announce numerous all-district selections. Five Golden Bears were first-team all-district honorees: seniors Reece Wadle and Ben Vaske; juniors Cameron Langerman and Zac Kibby; and sophomore Grant Buscherfeld.

Seniors Andrew Miller and Nick Kayser won second team all-district honors, while junior Landen Studer was an all-district honorable mention. The Bears had eight academic all-district honorees, more than any other school. The academic honors went to seniors Ben Vaske, Reece Wadle, Andrew Miller, Kirk Kenyon, and Nick Kayser; and to juniors Landen Studer, James Quinlin, and Devin Degen. Congratulations to all the all-district Golden Bears!

Next Thursday four Garrigan students will be heading down to Ames for the All-State Music Festival. Senior Mark Fakler and sophomore Levi Capesius will be singing tenor in the all-state chorus, senior Dorothy Kirsch will sing alto, and junior Carolyn Baxter will have a soprano part. The 600-member chorus was selected from almost 2400 singers who auditioned last month.

The All-State musicians will rehearse with conductor Lee Nelson next Thursday and Friday. The festival concert is next Saturday at Hilton Coliseum, and it will be broadcast over Iowa Public Television on Thanksgiving weekend. Congratulations to Garrigan choir director Linda Ferjak and all our All-State honorees!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Mark Fakler. Here to tell you about her is Myles Koob.

Mark Fakler splits his time between the Algona and Emmetsburg areas. He will be performing at the All-State Music Festival next week, and he’s also been to all-state twice in speech, and last weekend he qualified for nationals in quiz bowl. Mark also runs cross-country and track, he’s active in math team and Christian Leadership in Action, and he enjoys intramural basketball. Mark will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Myles Koob! On this week’s Golden Bear calendar, the second quarter is halfway through—which means teachers will be sending out progress reports this week.

Boys basketball practice starts on Monday. The school board meets Tuesday, and at 2pm that day we’ll have the National Honor Society induction.

We’ll have a student mass Wednesday, and we’ll dismiss early that afternoon for teacher inservice. Thursday the girls basketball team will play in a pride scrimmage over at Emmetsburg. Also on Thursday the All-State Music Festival begins in Ames.

Next Friday is Presentation Day, when we honor the sisters who have served our schools including Garrigan registrar Sister Janet Goetz. Finally next Saturday is the festival concert for the All-State Music Festival.

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