THE BEAR FACTS
October 18, 2025

Good morning! I’m Tate Foertsch!

I’m Kayden Graves!

And I’m Aubrey Meyer! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Did you know that Winston Churchill was the first person to be named an honorary U.S. citizen? … Or that there are more businesses incorporated in Delaware than people who live there? … Or that the “center of the world” for Google Maps is located in Lawrence, Kansas? If you do know trivia like that, then you should be in quiz bowl. Today Garrigan is hosting our thirty-fifth annual quiz bowl tournament, with teams from all over northern Iowa competing.

Teams are coming to the tournament from as far away as LeMars Gehlen and Hartley—Melvin—Sanborn. There’s also area schools like Algona High, North Union, North Iowa, West Hancock, and Forest City. In all nineteen teams from twelve different schools will be competing at Garrigan today.

The Bears will have two teams in the competition. The first includes seniors Tate Foertsch, Amaury Thomas, and Gabe Swift, plus juniors Marshall Bormann and Aidan Deitering. Garrigan’s second team features juniors Eva Kohlhaas and Corbin Darling, sophomore Bryden Morse, and freshman Lucy Eisenbarth.

Competition starts at 10:00 this morning in classrooms at Garrigan. Admission is free, and the public is welcome to watch. Playoffs will start around 12:30, and we’re hoping some Golden Bears will be advancing through the afternoon. Good luck, quiz bowl!

Playoffs are here for all the fall sports. The Golden Bear football continues to be top ranked, and they were looking forward to finding their playoff opponents this morning. The Bears should be hosting the first three rounds of playoffs, and we hope to make our way back to the Dome in November.

The Golden Bear volleyball team will play at North Union in the first round of regionals next Monday. The winner of that game will advance to face St. Ansgar on Wednesday. The cross-country team will run in the state qualifying meet next Thursday in Mason City, and sophomore Julia Swift is hoping for another trip to state. Good luck in the post season to all the Golden Bear sports teams.

Next Thursday and Friday four Garrigan girls will be heading down to Pella for the state solo dance competition. Addison Laubenthal, Delaney Fessler—Arndorfer, Rose Curtis—Ricke, and Avery Culbertson will all be competing at state. There are 73 dancers in the Class I contest, and the top ten will advance to the finals in December. Good luck, dancers!

Bishop Garrigan’s student council members have been volunteering this fall at the Kossuth County Food Pantry. Every Tuesday four students have been helping out unloading shipments and stocking shelves. Leading the student council this year are seniors Alyssa Haugland, Aubrey Meyer, Addison Kuper, Hailee Reutzel, Carley Nielson, and Haley Nemmers.

Others in student council are juniors Matt Besch, Bree Ludwig, Marshall Bormann, Karson Sidles, Aidan Lichter, Sawyer Herrick, and Kylie Capesius. The sophomore officers are Henry Bode, Gabbie Buscher, Gabbie Penton, Max Buscher, Karson Kramer, Hayden Miller, and Joey Lallier. Rounding out the group are freshmen Anaya Thomas, Avery Culbertson, Lucy Eisenbarth, Wyatt Schafer, Rachel Kahle, Emma Kollasch, and Hope Rooney.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Emmi Bartolo. Here with the scoop on her is Alyssa Haugland.

Emmi Bartolo is probably best known for her success in sports. She’s a state champion in basketball, and she’s also been to state in track. Emmi is also one of the top players on the Golden Bear volleyball team, and you’ve probably heard her announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. Away from school she babysits and works as a cleaner, and she likes to shop, tan, and hang out with her friends. Next year she plans to study kinesiology at Iowa State. Good luck, Emmi!
 

Thanks, Alyssa. On our Golden Bear calendar, today Garrigan is hosting our 35th annual quiz bowl tournament. There’s also a swim meet this morning in Marshalltown.

Monday is the 8th grade retreat, and several seniors will be helping out with that event. There’s regional volleyball that night, with the Bears taking on North Union at Armstrong.

The second round of regional volleyball is Wednesday at St. Ansgar. Thursday is the regional cross-country meet, and also on Thursday there’s state solo dance in Pella.

The first quarter ends next Friday, and the junior high will celebrate their fall festival that day. Then Friday night Garrigan will be hosting the first round of eight-man football playoffs on our journey to return to the Dome.

That’s 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.