The Bear Facts
September 17, 2016

Good morning!  I’m Ben Fogarty!

I’m Taylor Becker!

And I’m Levi Capesius!  Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, where we’ve been celebrating Homecoming here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

This past week we’ve been celebrating Homecoming 2016 with the theme “Welcome to Iowa”.  We has some of the nicest Homecoming decorations we’ve had in years, with all four classes producing beautiful hoops and parade banners.  We had a lot of rain Thursday, which made the field unplayable and forced us to move the football game to tonight.  The game is rescheduled for 7:00 this evening, and we hope to finish off the week with a big win.

We had our Homecoming coronation Wednesday night.  This year’s queen candidates were Gracie Behr, Sam Bormann, Ciera Hall, Courtney Noonan, and Sarah Skilling, while the king candidates were Gibson Behr, Levi Capesius, Ben Fogarty, Chase Hatten, and Joel Vaske.  When the votes were all counted, the winners were King Levi Capesius and Queen Samantha Bormann.  Congratulations, Sam and Levi!

We had 100% participation on three of the five Homecoming dress-up days:  Farmer Day, Class Color Day, and Black & Gold Day.  The seniors and sophomores both had 100% dressed for ‘Merica Day on Monday, and the sophomores had 100% participation on Iowa College Day Wednesday.  There was also great attendance at the volleyball game Tuesday night, with the seniors being the top group of fans there.

The judges loved all the hoops and banners the classes produced.  They gave the seniors the nod for best hoop, though, while the juniors three-dimensional banner took top honors.  The sophomore class produced the best Homecoming skit.  In our battle of the classes, the seniors won the first session of volleyball, while the juniors won the second.  In kickball the juniors won the first session, while the seniors won the second round.

The sophomores were the top class in Twister, while the seniors won both boys and girls home run derby.  The seniors also won the first round of Trivia, while the juniors took the second session.  The juniors won girls tug-of-war, while the seniors won boys tug-of-war.  The juniors won boys Gatorade chug, while the sophomores won the girls division.  The juniors were the winners in hot dog eating, and the seniors won the pie-eating contest.  

The senior class also won egg toss, dodgeball, and bean bag toss.  They also got a bonus for cheering the loudest at the pep rally Wednesday night.  That meant that while all four classes made a good showing in the class competition, the overall winners were the seniors.  Congratulations to the Class of 2017!

This is a very busy weekend for the Golden Bear volleyball team.  Today the freshman and JV squads have tournaments at North Union and Armstrong, and then tomorrow the varsity will travel to LeMars for the big CYO tournament.  Good luck, volleyball!

Next weekend Seton first grade teacher Karen McGregor will be honored with the prestigious Excellence in Education Award by the Diocese of Sioux City.  The award will be presented at the annual Bishop’s Dinner for Education, and a delegation of well-wishers will be traveling to Sioux City for the event.  Mrs. McGregor is one of the most experienced teachers in the Bishop Garrigan Schools.  She’s worked with lower elementary students throughout her career.  Congratulations, Mrs. McGregor!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Mark Mather.  Here to tell you about him is Samantha Bormann!

Mark Mather comes from the northern part of Kossuth County, and he transferred to Garrigan from North Union.  Mark’s biggest activity is probably football, where he’s been a great addition to the Golden Bear defensive line.  He enjoys other sports as well, and he’s also an important part of the Garrigan quiz bowl team.  Mark will be off to college next year, and we wish him the very best of luck in the future.

Thanks, Sam!  On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s a JV volleyball tournament at Algona today, and the JJV team will be playing at North Union.  The Homecoming football game is rescheduled for tonight due to wet field conditions.  Game time will be 7pm.

Tomorrow there’s varsity volleyball, with the CYO tournament in LeMars.  Monday the cross-country team runs in Humboldt.  The JV football team hosts Eagle Grove on Monday, and also that night there’s a strategic planning meeting sponsored by the Sioux City Diocese.

Tuesday is the final turn-in day in the calendar drive.  The volleyball team travels to Buffalo Center to play North Iowa Tuesday night.  Then on Wednesday we’ll have our weekly all-school mass.

The Golden Bear football team travels to Marcus next Friday to play the Marcus—Meridan—Cleghorn—Remsen Union Royals.  Next Saturday the volleyball team hosts their own tournament, and that night Mrs. McGregor will be honored at the Bishop’s Dinner.

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