The Bear Facts
October 17, 2026

Good morning! I’m Mike Joyce!

I'm Cora Dearderuff

I’m Leo Snyder!


Did you know that if you shuffle the letters in the word “dormitory”, it spells “dirty room”? … Or that Lake Superior is almost the same size as the country of Austria? … Or that the sunset on Mars appears blue? If you know trivia like that, then you should be in quiz bowl. This morning twenty-two teams are coming to Bishop Garrigan to compete in one of the oldest quiz bowl tournaments in Iowa.

The annual Bishop Garrigan quiz bowl tournament has bene going since the 1990 – 1991 school year, and it’s happened every year, including during COVID. This year we will welcome teams from our area like Algona High and North Union, as well as more distant schools like Spirit Lake, Sioux Central, and LeMars Gehlen. The competition will begin about an hour from now.

The Golden Bears will have two teams in their home tournament. The first features seniors Marshall Bormann and Eva Kohlhaas, junior Bryden Morse, and sophomore Lucy Eisenbarth. Garrigan’s other team is made up of five talented freshmen: Samuel Foix, Holden Glawe, Henry Greteman, Clara Schafer, and Katy Herrick. They’ll both face teams from four different schools in the preliminary rounds, and they’re hoping to be among the top eight teams that advance to playoffs.



The home tournament is the first of several quiz bowls this fall. In a couple of weeks the Bears will compete at Algona High, and there are also tournaments coming up at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond and Spirit Lake. In addition they’ll participate in several online nationwide contests. Good luck all season long to Coach David Burrow and the quiz bowl team!

This past Wednesday seven Garrigan seniors were installed as extraordinary ministers of holy communion. They’ll distribute communion at our school masses, and many will also help out in their local churches. Matt Besch, Leo Snyder, Corbin Darling, Sawyer Herrick, Cora Deardeuff, Shiloh Trainer, and Kylie Capesius all received special training and were installed as eucharistic ministers at our mass last Wednesday morning. Congratulations and thanks to them.
 

Next Thursday two Garrigan students will be down in Pella for the state solo dance competition. Delaney Fessler—Arndorfer and Avery Culbertson will compete in the morning, and their results will be announced around noon. Both dancers were selected as part of the All-Iowa Honor Dance Team, and Delaney was a top ten finalist at state dance last year. Good luck to both Avery and Delaney as they compete at state solos next Thursday.

For the past several years Garrigan has honored area veterans at our first mass in November. This year our special veterans mass will be Wednesday, November 4th at 8:40am. Any veterans in our area are welcome to come to mass, and there will be a special reception honoring them afterwards. Be sure to let any veterans you know ab out our veterans mass November 4 at St. Cecelia’s.

Other dates to mark on your calendar are November 6th and 8th, when the Bishop Garrigan drama and music departments will be presenting Descendents. The Disney show will be on stage at 7pm on Friday, November 6 and again at 2pm on Sunday the 8th. The cast features seniors Shiloh Trainer, Aidan Deitering, Cora Deardeuff, Matt Besch, Alice Casey, Eva Kohlhaas, Leo Snyder, and Kylie Capesius. Be sure to be there November 6th or 8th to see Descendents.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Sheila Reding. Here with the scoop on her is
Sheila Reding comes to Garrigan from the Cylinder area. In the fall she keeps busy running cross-country. She’s also a DECA officer, she was on the soil judging team for FFA, and she enjoys golf, speech, the tech crew for plays, and announcing on the “Bear Facts”. She’s active in 4-H and is the youth representative for the Palo Alto County Fair Board. She works at Holmes Animal Clinic, and in the future she wants to study animal science and the pre-veterinary program at Iowa State. Good luck, Sheila!
 

Thanks! On our Golden Bear calendar, Garrigan is hosting our big quiz bowl tournament today. There’s also a girls swim meet in Marshalltown.

Monday morning the seniors will have their class photo taken. Regional volleyball starts that night, with the Bears hosting West Bend—Mallard.
 

We’ll have mass on Wednesday morning. That night is the second round of volleyball regionals. Then on Thursday there’s state solo dance in Pella.

Also on Thursday the cross-country team will travel to South Hamilton to run in the state qualifying meet. Friday is the end of the first quarter.

Next Friday football playoffs begin. The district champion Golden Bears will be hosting the first round of 8-man playoffs as they hope to fight their way back to the Dome.

That is indeed the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.