Good
morning! I'm Sarah Erdman!
I'm
Jeff Hellman!
And
I'm Sarah Schmitt! Welcome once again to the "Bear
Facts", where the year is winding to a close here at Bishop
Garrigan High School.
Last
Sunday the seventy-two members of the BGHS Class of 2001 walked across the stage
to receive their diplomas. This is
the largest graduating class Garrigan has had in a decade, and it is also one of
the most talented classes the school has ever graduated.
Many members of the class won major awards for their accomplishments in
academics, athletics, and the arts. Among
them were Angie Kohlhaas, Lynn Kohlhaas, Amanda Freking, Brad Nelson, Scott
McGuire, and Ben Lickteig-all of whom received major scholarships to their
colleges of choice.
Several
students were honored by area media. Brad
Nelson was named North Iowa Athlete of the Year by the Mason City Globe-Gazette,
while Angie Kohlhaas made the Des Moines Register's Academic All-State team. The Globe-Gazette also honored Amanda Freking, Lynn Kohlhaas,
Marian Studer, Nick Even, Scott Black, Sara Reding, and Greg Besch for their
achievement; and Angie and Lynn made both KIMT Academic All-Stars and Kossuth
County's top scholars in the Algona Upper Des Moines.
Angie Kohlhaas and Dan Bormann were honored by the National Merit Scholarship program, and they together with Scott Black, Nick Even, Jennifer Faber, Amanda Freking, Lynn Kohlhaas, and Josh Richter received the President's Education Award. Angie Kohlhaas was also named a semi-finalist in the U.S. Department of Education's Presidential Scholars program.
Each
year the different departments give honors to their top students.
This year Tanya Broesder won the Family and Consumer Science award, while
Marian Studer and Tim Kohlhaas split the art award.
The business department honored Stephanie Berte and Justin Froehlich,
while English honors went to Jennifer Faber, Amanda Freking, Marian Studer,
Kelly Kunkel, Brooke Buscherfeld, and Michelle Vitzthum.
In foreign language Scott Black and Angie Kohlhaas won top honors, and
Angie also won the math award. Nick
Even and Deanna Kohlhaas split the science honors, while Paul Loebach was
honored in social studies. Angie
Kohlhaas and Marian Studer won drama awards, and Angie split the theology award
with Dan Bormann. Finally this
year's music honors went to Paul Loebach and Angie Kohlhaas.
At
graduation each year, Garrigan students receive a host of scholarships from a
variety of area donors. This year
Deanna Kohlhaas, Annette Long, Chris Thilges, Lynn Kohlhaas, Scott Black, Nick
Even, Sara Reding, Mandy Roethler, Heather Johnson, Tanya Broesder, Kelly
Kunkel, Sarah Kollasch, Justin Froehlich, Josh Hanig, Kelly Kohlhaas, Lori
Elsbecker, and Amanda Freking won many of these scholarships.
The Ronald Armstrong Memorial Scholarship went to Ben Richter, while Dan
Bormann won the Daniel Bernhard Scholarship.
Steven Courtney was awarded the Bernard Meister Scholarship, and Marian
Studer received the Justine Becker Scholarship.
The Kramer-Erickson Scholarship went to Andrea Kramer, and Greg Besch won
the Tony Lane Scholarship. Lee
Vaske received the Joe Kemna Scholarship, while Kevin Kohlhaas and D.J. VonBank
split the Joan Duffy Scholarship.
The
newest scholarship at Garrigan started just this year and is given in memory of
Sean Beish, who died last fall. The
scholarship goes to a senior who possesses the qualities of perseverance, who
shows great heart and a true love of life-as Sean exemplified in his eight short
years on earth. Hank Greer was
honored to be the first winner of the Sean Beisch Scholarship.
We all remember Sean, and we're happy that his memory will live on
through this scholarship.
This
weekend ten Garrigan girls are down in Des Moines for the annual girls' state
track meet. Garrigan qualified three events at state-the 4 by 200, 4 by
400, and 4 by 800-meter relays. Deanna
Kohlhaas, Heather Stence, Janel Richter, Ashley Arndorfer, Jenna Becker, and Amy
Rahm will be running the sprints; while Nellie Fowler, Shelly DeVries, Angie
Kohlhaas, and Teresa McGuire will be running the longer legs.
Good luck to the girls at state!
We've got two more seniors to shine our spotlight on. Here's Joe Hellman and Amanda Wolf to tell you about the last two members of the Class of 2001-Sherri Kollasch and Janet Kramer.
You've
probably seen Sherri Kollasch working at the Algona Dairy Queen.
Here at school, this Algona native is best known as a cheerleader.
She is also active in choir, and she's won honors in nurse's aide.
Sherri will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best.
Our
last spotlighted senior is Janet Kramer, who was also one of the Golden Bear
cheerleaders. Janet was also a
track manager, and she enjoyed speech and choir.
Janet works as a waitress at Prime Time, and she also works at the Hy-Vee
Bakery. She'll also be a college
girl next fall, and we wish good luck to her-and to everyone in the BGHS Class
of 2001!
Thanks,
Joe and Amanda! On this week's Golden Bear calendar, there's girls state
track in Des Moines this weekend. Then
next Tuesday baseball season begins-with the Bears hosting a doubleheader
against West Bend/Mallard.
Wednesday
we start final exams-with a special schedule for the rest of the week.
Wednesday night the Baseball Bears take on Estherville.
Thursday there's more baseball, with Garrigan traveling to North Kossuth. Then Friday is the last day of school. We'll finish up finals and say good-bye for the year.
Also
on Friday the boys' track team will be at state.
Garrigan has three events at state, and we'll tell you more about them
next week. That night the baseball team plays at Spencer.
That's
the "Bear Facts" for this week. We'll
have one more show this year-so be sure to catch us again next week when we wrap
up the school year and look forward to the summer events at Bishop Garrigan High
School.
