THE BEAR FACTS
OCTOBER 15, 2022

Good morning! I’m Violet Bode!

I’m Ella Schaaf!

And I’m Brendan Plathe! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you in touch with Bishop Garrigan High School.

Did you know that the best-selling video game of all time was Minecraft? … Or that Jupiter’s moon Europa has more water than all the oceans of earth? … Or that the location of Cancun, Mexico was chosen by a computer? If you like trivia like that, then you should be in quiz bowl. Today the quiz bowl season is starting with Garrigan hosting one of the biggest academic tournaments in the state.

Fifteen different schools are coming to the tournament today, and twenty-seven different teams will represent those schools. Some teams—like Algona, North Union, Emmetsburg, and West Hancock—are from the local area. Others—like Ankeny and Bishop Heelan—will travel a long way to compete in today’s tournament.

The Bears have five teams competing today. One team consists of seniors Gavin Swift, Garrett Heying, Eva Snyder, and Avery Berte. Another has juniors Violet Bode, Abbie Capesius, Avery Lichter, and Kyra Deike. There’s also a team with juniors Sam Plathe, Ben Greteman, Benjy Trainer, Brendan Plathe, and Nick Laubenthal.
Garrigan’s fourth team includes Sam Greteman, Spencer Dooerning, Thadd Kollasch, Kayden Graves, and Tate Foertsch. The final Garrigan team features Alaina Bormann, Brooke Ludwig, Molly Peterson, Griffin Geving, and Nathaniel Darling. Good luck today and all through the season to Coach David Burrow and Golden Bear quiz bowl!

Volleyball playoffs start next week, and the Bears are hoping to extend their season a while longer. Garrigan will open playoffs by hosting Harris—Lake Park next Monday at 7pm. Then on Wednesday they’ll host the winner of Trinity Christian and George—Little Rock. The regional semi-final will be on Monday, October 24, most likely against Newell—Fonda.

Next Saturday four Garrigan singers will be headed over to LeMars to audition for the All-State Music Festival. Choir members Nate Bronk, Benjy Trainer, Lauren Swift, and Isabella Waechter have been working hard throughout the fall preparing to try out for all-state. They’ve rehearsed a wide range of material and can be asked to perform a small part of it for the evaluator. They can be recalled, and the top performers in each of the voice ranges will be part of the all-state choir.

Also next weekend is the district DECA competition. DECA is an activity where students practices skills that lead to real-world business success. This year’s DECA group includes Zach Warren, Ella Schaaf, Ava Roethler, Haley Ruetzel, and Sam Plathe; together with Brendan Plathe, Molly Peterson, Haley Nemmers, and Logan Nemmers.

Others in DECA are Zoe Montag, Aubrey Meyer, Daniel Meis, Brooke Ludwig, Thadd Kollasch, and Reece Kemna. Rounding out the group are Ava Hough, Sam Greteman, Ben Greteman, Kyra Deike, Emmi Bartolo, Violet Bode, and Sacha Alesch. They’ll be headed to Gilbert next Saturday for the district competition. Good luck, DECA!

October is rosary month for the Catholic Church. While the rosary can be said any time of the year, church members are especially encouraged to say those prayers in October. Students at Garrigan and Seton are saying rosaries every Friday this month, and our prayers have been especially dedicated to the turbulent situation in Haiti. We hope our prayers will help the people at Divine Mercy’s sister parish there.

With quiz bowl season starting, our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Garrett Heying. Garrett has been active in quiz bowl all through high school, and he’ll be captaining one of Garrigan’s top teams today. While you probably know Garrett as the Golden Bears’ quarterback, his favorite sport is probably baseball, where he’s a catcher and one of the top hitters on the team. Garrett is also active in speech, and you’ve probably heard him announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. Garrett will be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best in the future.

Thanks, Ella! On our Golden Bear calendar, the quiz bowl team is hosting their big home tournament today. Then Monday the seniors will be dressing in black for their class picture.

Monday night the volleyball team starts regional action by hosting Harris—Lake Park. Game time will be 7pm in the Garrigan gym.

There’s mass Tuesday morning, and Wednesday there’s no school because of a teacher inservice session. Wednesday night is the second round of volleyball regionals, with the Bears hosting once again.

Thursday is the cross-country state qualifying meet. The Bears will be running at Central Springs in Manly. There’s also a swim meet that night in Decorah.

The first quarter ends next Friday. We’ll have the Walk and Pray fundraiser walkathon that day. Saturday there’s all-state music auditions in LeMars and district DECA at Gilbert.

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