Good morning! I'm Cassie Recker!
And I'm Nettie McGuire! Welcome once again to the "Bear Facts". Greetings from all of us at Bishop Garrigan High School.
Seven Garrigan students got up extremely early this morning. They left at 4am to head down to West High School in Iowa City. The students are members of the Golden Bear math team, and today they're competing in the state finals of the Great Plains Math League. Seniors John Kohlhaas and Scott Stence; junior Matt Courtney; sophomores Jeff Lappe, Gavin Freking, and Spenser Rahm; and freshman Tony Rouse will be representing Garrigan at state. Eric Cassmann, Maria Kohlhaas, and Samantha Kirsch also qualified for state, but other commitments are keeping them from going.
State math is one of the hardest competitions that anyone at Garrigan goes to. The day begins with the sprint round, where everyone takes a test with thirty of the hardest math questions you've ever seen. Following that is the target round, where there are just a few questions, but they're even more difficult. Then there's the team round, where everybody works together to solve a series of problems. Finally there's the relay round, which is one of the most interesting parts of math competition. The team members have different questions, but they need to use each other's answers to find the final solutions.
Garrigan has done very well in math competition over the years, and we're hoping the team does well again today. If they finish in the money at state, the Bears will advance to the regional math competition, which will be held next month in Lawrence, Kansas. Good luck to Coach Daryl Kohlhaas and the entire Golden Bear math team!
There's another state competition going on today, too. Nearly half of the school is over in Britt for the state solo and small ensemble music contest. Both band and choir members have entries at state, and they've been working hard to get things ready. Good luck to music directors Dennis Freking and Linda Mertz and to all the band and choir members. We'll let you know how they did on next week's show.
Last week the several members of the Golden Bear quiz bowl team competed in the Bishop Garrigan Trivia Challenge, a series of 200 challenging questions which the group worked together as a team to answer. Many of the participants had gotten sponsors to donate money based on their success, with the money going to help pay the costs of going to the National Academic Championships this summer. Nine Garrigan students will be traveling to nationals: seniors John Kohlhaas, Eric Cassmann, Scott Stence, Tyler Rolling, Josh Broesder, Adam Cink, Jesse Bode, and Amber Golwitzer; and junior Matt Courtney. The tournament will be June 3 - 5 in Washington, D.C.
The tallies are in, and Gala 2004 was one of the most successful fundraisers in school history. Hundreds of guests enjoyed "a heavenly celebration" at Gala, and everyone seemed eager to get out their checkbooks to help out the school. Some auction items went for ridiculous amounts of money-like the beer and chicken wings that sold for over $5,000. It's all for a good cause, though, since the money helps out with special expenses at Garrigan and Seton. In the end Gala brought in over $219,000, and we certainly thank everyone who came and everyone who helped to make the night a big success.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Amanda Elbert and Elizabeth Bormann. Here to tell you about them is Brooke Myers.
Amanda Elbert is an Algona native who is active in band, publication, and Christian Leadership in Action. She's also a golfer, and during the winter she kept stats for the basketball team. Away from Garrigan, you might see her working at the Algona Fareway store. Amanda will be at Iowa Lakes next fall, and we wish her all the best.
Elizabeth Bormann spends much of her time working at the customer service counter at Hy-Vee. She plays piano and organ for the churches in St. Joe and Livermore. She's also active in publications and 4-H, and in the past she was in golf. In the future Liz plans to attend Briar Cliff next year, and we wish her good luck.
Thanks, Brooke! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there's the state math competition today in Iowa City. Also today the band and choir are competing in the state solo and small ensemble contest in Britt.
Tomorrow night the danz squad will present their spring show at 6:30 in the gym. Then on Monday we'll have a special mass for vocations at St. Cecelia's.
Monday night the girls track team runs at Armstrong and the golf teams face West Bend/Mallard. The girls will play at West Bend, and the boys will be at Mallard. Tuesday the golf teams take on Clear Lake, with the girls at home and the boys away.
Also on Tuesday the school board meets and the girls track team runs at Garner. Wednesday morning we'll have our annual Stewardship Day, where we all chip in to do special service projects around the school. There's a teacher in-service that afternoon, and the quiz bowl team will compete in the Knowledge Master.
Thursday night we'll have the speech awards potluck. Also that night the girls golf team plays at Spencer. Then Friday there's boys golf at St. Ed's and girls golf at Hampton.
Also next Friday the boys track team runs at Pocahontas and the girls run at Estherville. Next Saturday both golf teams will be playing-the girls in the Garrigan Invitational and the boys in the Algona Invitational. That night we'll celebrate "Mardi Gras" for Prom Night 2004.
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.
