And I’m Wade MacDonald! Welcome to another exciting episode of the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Homecoming ’99 is here! Tomorrow we’ll be putting up the decorations as we get ready to rock our way to the millennium for Homecoming, 1999. One of the features of Homecoming every year is the dress-up days. Monday we’ll have “Pajama Day”, with the whole school dressed up in sleepwear. Then on Tuesday we’ll salute our favorite rock stars on “Rockin’ to the Millennium Day”. Wednesday we’ll have “Costume Day,” with everyone dressing up in Halloween costumes. Thursday we’ll all be decked out in the school colors for “Black and Gold Day”, and then on Friday it’s the traditional “Black and Gold Day”.
The dress-up days are part of the traditional Homecoming class competition. We actually started the competition early this year, by awarding bonus points to the classes who cheered the loudest at the pep rally before the Algona/Garrigan football game last week. There was close to a four-way tie, but in the end, the judges awarded three bonus points to the juniors and two bonus points to the seniors.
The class competition continues all through Homecoming week. Tomorrow each class will be decorating a hallway at school with the theme of “Rockin’ to the Millennium”. Tuesday we’ll all build floats for the Homecoming parade. Then on Thursday each class will present a skit at the coronation ceremony, and the athletic teams will run through hoops designed by the different classes. We’ll have another big cheer-off that night to see which class wins the Homecoming spirit stick.
The events continue all week long. The volleyball team has three big matches during the week. They’ll host Clarion/Goldfield on Monday, play at Algona High on Wednesday, and then travel to Clarion Saturday morning. The cross country team will be running at Humboldt Tuesday night, and the football team has a big game with Wall Lake View Auburn on Friday. Also on Friday we’ll have the traditional Homecoming mass and parade, and then Saturday night will be the big Homecoming dance.
As we celebrate “Rockin’ to the Millennium”, it’s appropriate that Garrigan’s own rock group will be performing during Homecoming. “Everything Red” is headed up by lead singer Josh Harp. Rocking along with him are Homecoming king candidate Brandon Donahe, fellow senior Wade MacDonald, and sophomore Josh Dittrich. The group will be performing a full set at the Homecoming dance, and they also have special music planned for the coronation and mass.
With the calendar drive over, we’re pleased to announce this year’s top seller. The top salesman overall was Seton middle-schooler Scott Stence, who sold 82 raffle calendars. Four Garrigan students were close behind: Stephanie Hilbert with 50, Jeff Vaske with 36, Katie Patterson with 35, and Mark Meister with 32. Tyler Rahm and Chris Kohlhaas tied for sixth place, while Ben Geelan and Greg Besch shared eighth place. Rounding out the top ten was Michael Murphy, who sold 22 calendars. Congratulations to all the top calendar sellers!
There’s going to be trouble, right here in River City—when the BGHS music and drama departments come together to present “The Music Man”, Garrigan’s 1999 fall musical. Auditions were held right at the beginning of the school year, and the directors said casting was difficult because of the exceptional job everybody did at auditions. In the end Tyler Struck was selected as Professor Harold Hill, and Janet Kramer will play Marian the librarian. You’ll see Brandon Donahe as Mayor Shinn, Tony Schmitt as the conductor, Corrie Stetzel as Maude, and Katie Patterson as Alma.
Some of the other key cast members include Eric Becker, Paul Loebach, Ben Lickteig, Wade MacDonald, Nick Even, and Jake Kohlhaas. Among the ladies in the ensemble you’ll see Amanda Freking, Marian Studer, Angie Weber, Ellie Reising, Rachel Foth, Heather Stence, and Heather Johnson. Angie Kohlhaas will serve as accompanist for the show.
The 1999 yearbooks have been out for about two weeks, and everyone agrees they’re a great success. Publications director Mary McCall and her staff worked hard to get everything just right for the yearbook. One of the features of the ’99 books are a spread of senior pictures in color. Yearbooks ordered by recent graduates and alumni are available at school, and a limited number of extra books are also available for sale.
This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on two very busy students—Trent Youngwirth and Tyler Struck. Trent lists challenging classes like Math V and Physics among his favorites. You may know him best as one of the key athletes on the Golden Bear football and track teams. Away from Garrigan you might have seen Trent working at Fareway. He’ll be off to Iowa State next year, where he plans to major in aerospace engineering. Good luck, Trent.
When he was asked to list his activities, Tyler Struck said he was in “everything except baseball”—and he used to be out for that. You may know Tyler as the Golden Bear quarterback, but he’s lettered in almost every sport, as well as in music and quiz bowl. You’ve probably heard Tyler here on the “Bear Facts”, and you may have seen him working at Premier Pizza. Tyler is considering a wide variety of colleges, and we know he’ll do well, wherever he goes.
On this week’s Golden Bear calendar, there’s JV volleyball this morning at Algona High. Tomorrow we’ll be putting up decorations for Homecoming.
Monday the cross-country eam runs at Humboldt and the volleyball team hosts Clarion/Goldfield. Also on Monday there’s freshman football, with the Bears travelling to Eagle Grove. Tuesday we’ll be constructing floats for Homecoming. We’ll also vote for our Homecoming king and queen on Tuesday, and that night the school board meets.
Wednesday night the volleyball team plays at Algona High. There’s also JV football Wednesday, with the Bears hosting Fort Dodge St. Edmond. Then Thursday night we’ll have the traditional Homecoming coronation.
Friday morning at 10:45 we’ll celebrate the Homecoming liturgy. As always, the public is invited to mass. At 4:00 Friday afternoon, we’ll have the Homecoming parade down State Street in Algona, followed by a pep rally on the court house lawn.
Friday night the varsity football team takes on the Wolverines of Wall Lake View Auburn. Then Saturday morning the volleyball team meets the Clarion Cowgirls. Finally on Saturday night, “Runway” and “Everything Red” will be providing music for the Homecoming dance.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for listening, and be sure to tune in again next Saturday for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
