The Bear Facts
March 17, 2018

Good morning! I’m Caroline Bradley!

I’m Grace McGuire

And I’m Laurel Degen! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last weekend Garrigan students presented nine entries at the Iowa High School Speech Association state individual contest in Carroll. Things could not have gone better for the Bears at state contest. While pretty much everyone was dead tired after pops concert the night before, everyone put on awesome performances and every single Garrigan event earned a Division I or “excellent” rating from the judges.

Sam Trainer earned two I’s in Storytelling and Improvisation. Caitlin Thilges, Bryce Capesius, and Gabe Trainer all received excellent ratings in Prose. In Literary Program Sam Vaske and John Zeimet earned division one ratings. Logan Heying got a “I” in Radio News Announcing, and Jordan Hansen was judged excellent in Storytelling. Congratulations to all these Golden Bear performers!


Speech season starts with more than 5,000 entries. About two-thirds of them make it past district, and only about 40% earn Division One ratings at state. The big honor, though, is to be selected to All-State, an honor that goes to only about 7% of all the performers in speech. We’re proud to say that this year three different Garrigan students were named outstanding performers and got invitations to perform at the All-State Festival on March 26.

Sam Trainer was judged outstanding in storytelling for his presentation “The Real Most Interesting Man in the World”. Sam Vaske will be presenting his literary program “Fickle Females” at all-state, and Caitlin Thilges is headed to all-state with her prose selection “So You’re Kate’s Girl”. This is the third straight year Caitlin was named an outstanding performer. The All-State Speech Festival will be held on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa on Monday, March 26. Congratulations to all three of Garrigan’s outstanding performers!

The students who went to state speech were the very first group who got ride in Garrigan’s brand new activity bus. Thanks to some generous gifts and some of the proceeds from our annual calendar drive, the school recently purchased a fourteen-passenger bus that any licensed driver can operate. The shiny white bus is the first truly new vehicle the school has bought in decades, and when the team left for speech contest it had less than 200 miles on it. We know it will get a lot of use taking students to different activities in the coming years. 

Sam Trainer is one of the few students statewide who will be declining his invitation to perform at all-state. That’s because a week from Monday he’ll be down in St. Louis with about thirty other Garrigan music students. The group will be seeing landmarks and historic sites around the Gateway City, they’ll see some music venues and eat at the Hard Rock Café, and they’ll watch a performance of The Color Purple at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. 


The three all-staters are part of a big cast that’s been busy rehearsing for the BGHS spring play. Next Friday and Saturday Garrigan will be presenting “The Cases of Sherlock Holmes”. Sam Vaske stars as the famous detective, while Tommy Kollasch will be playing Dr. Watson. Others in the cast include seniors Caitlin Thilges, John Zeimet, Jenna Boelter, Sam Trainer, Emory Miller, and Skyland Meraz—all of whom will be making their final appearance in a Garrigan play.

Juniors in the cast include Bryce Capesius, Layah DeLange, Caroline Bradley, Gabe Trainer, Aidan Koob, Laurel Degen, Eric Thul, Ashlyn Harrington, Logan Heying, Megan Bronk, Madison Illg, and Emma Thul. Rounding out the cast are sophomores Jordan Hansen and Jenna Heinen, and freshman Joey Trainer. Showtime is 7pm next Friday and Saturday, so be sure to drop by Friedmann Auditorium to see “The Cases of Sherlock Holmes”.

A couple weeks ago John Meis, Jack Snyder, Reese Rosenmeyer, and Anna Berke represented Garrigan at the state DECA conference in the Des Moines area February 24-26. DECA is an organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to be college and career ready. The Garrigan students took tests and did role plays at the conference. We’re especially proud to announce that John Meis was elected the state vice president of marketing. Congratulations, John!

This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on Olivia Hall. Here with the scoop on her is John Meis.

O.J. hall has been successful in a wide range of activities. She’s a dance captain, and she’s qualified for state in track. She’s been part of the football spirit squad and Christian Leadership in Action all through school, and she’s also an honor student. Olivia plans to attend Simpson College next year, where she’ll be majoring in biology. We wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks, John. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, tomorrow is the fifth Sunday of Lent. The fourth quarter of the school year begins on Monday, and we’ll have parish busing at Garrigan and Seton that day.

Also on Monday there’s tryouts for next year’s dance squad. Then on Tuesday a group of Christian Leadership students will be helping out at the Caring and Sharing Hands Mission in Minneapolis.

We’ll have a student mass on Wednesday. Then Thursday there’s tryouts for next year’s football cheer squad.

Friday the high school will have our annual day of reflection. Finally that night the curtain opens on the first performance of “The Cases of Sherlock Holmes”.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks for joining us and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School. Until then—may the luck ‘o’ the Irish be with you!