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Jingle bells ring at start.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm Eric Cassmann!
And I'm John Kohlhaas! Happy holidays from the "Bear Facts" and everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School.
The Golden Bear math team got an early Christmas present last weekend when they won their home tournament in the Great Plains Math League, beating teams from Carroll Kuemper, Mason City High School, Clarion-Goldfield, and Sioux Center. The questions were really tough, and in my co-host John Kohlhaas was the only person in the whole tournament to qualify for state. He won both the sprint and target rounds. Other Garrigan medal winners were freshmen Maria Kohlhaas and Tony Rouse; sophomores Jeff Lappe, Gavin Freking, and Spenser Rahm; and junior Anthony McGuire. Congratulations to the math team!
Rehearsals are already underway for the 2004 large-group speech season. This year Garrigan will enter fiver group improvisations, three ensemble acting selections, two readers theatres, and a group mime at the district contest in late January. Varsity speech participants include senior veterans Scott Stence, Brooke Myers, John Kohlhaas, Amber Golwitzer, Josh Broesder, and Eric Cassmann, as well as new senior Jesse Bode. There are also seven juniors, twelve sophomores, and nine freshmen out for large-group speech. Best wishes to coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and the speech team!
Christmas is a time for helping out other people, and we've been doing a lot of that here at Garrigan. Last Saturday, when the faculty and staff held their annual Christmas party, they took contributions and collected over $450. That money will be used to buy presents for residents of area nursing homes. The Christian Leadership in Action group raised money for the food pantry by holding a bake sale during the masses at St. Cecelia's last Sunday, and the student council participated in Kossuth County's Adopt-a-Family program and bought Christmas gifts for several needy people in the area.
We took a special Christmas survey among many of the students at Garrigan. My co-host Eric Cassmann claims that the best gift he ever got was a math book-yeah, right! Brianne Donahe liked getting a pair of bright pink cowboy boots when she was 6 years old. Cindy Reding's favorite gift was a pitching net, Dan Garman liked getting a waverunner, and his brother Jim's favorite gift was a snowmobile. Jeff Lappe's favorite gift was going to a Kansas City Chiefs game, Renee Taphorn thought her Easy-Bake oven was really hot, and Joe Rahm liked getting his dog Buddy. Andrea Arndorfer enjoyed getting a Barbie Dreamouse, Alex Bradley liked his paintball gun, Brooke Myers really liked her air hockey table, Matt Vitzthum's favorite was his Playstation 2, Seth Rogers liked his lava lamp, and Andrew Missal's all-time favorite gift was Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
We also asked people what was the worst Christmas gift they ever got. Katelyn Besch claimed she never got any bad presents, but most people haven't been so lucky. Even though it was the top gift of the late '90s, Andrew Missal really hated getting a Furby. Jim Garman's worst present was crayons, and Brad Thompson hated getting a pink Barbie wristwatch when he was a little boy. Scott Stence was not amused when his sister got him an old Garrigan band hat, and Sarah Mayer didn't appreciate her pooping pig key chain. Matt Kollasch was pretty bored by Harry Potter trading cards, and my friend John must have been a bad little boy-because once he really got a lump of coal in his stocking. Other bad gifts included a mug that played "America the Beautiful", limberger cheese, shoestrings, second-hand underwear, and a fish tank.
Finally we asked people what their plans were over Christmas vacation. Most people weren't doing anything special, but a few did have some plans. Lots of people plan to go hunting, snowmobiling, snowboarding, sledding, skating, and four-wheeling. Donnie Monson plans to travel to Boston, while Chris Cassmann (and presumably Eric, too) is going to Florida. Cassie Recker plans to shop, go skiing, and build a snowman, while Sarah Mayer says she's doing absolutely nothing. Dan Garman is having surgery on his leg, which he injured in basketball. Meanwhile, his brother Jim says he'll hang out with the family and eat a lot of food. Then there's Ben Geelan, who says her just plans to "chill in good old A-town".
Our Senior Spotlight for the holidays shines on Andrew Thilges. When the seniors voted for class awards earlier in the year, Andrew was on almost everyone's list for "best hair". Over the years he has been involved in baseball, football, and intramural basketball. You might also sometimes see him working in the Garrigan office. Andrew plans to continue his education after graduating, and we wish him all the best.
On our Golden Bear calendar, Christmas vacation runs from now through January 4th. There's no school events scheduled until Saturday the 3rd, when the basketball teams will play at Hampton. The JV boys play at 1:00 that day, the varsity girls at 2:30, and the varsity boys at 4:00.
Sunday the 4th is the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, for whom our grade school is named. Classes resume on Monday the 5th, and that night we'll be making up a basketball game at Clear Lake. Tuesday the 6th there's more basketball, with the Bears hosting Humboldt. HOSA will be serving a taco supper at the games.
Wednesday the 7th we'll have a liturgy to close out the Christmas season. Thursday the 8th the freshman basketball teams play at Humboldt. Then Saturday the 9th there's more home basketball, with the Bears taking on St. Edmond. The baseball and softball teams will serve an Italian supper that night.
Finally on our calendar there's Saturday, January 10th. That day three students will travel to an honor band at North Iowa Area Community College, and the quiz bowl team will play in a tournament at North Kossuth.
That's the "Bear Facts" for 2003. We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, and we wish all the best to everyone in 2004. We'll be off for the next two weeks because of Christmas vacation, but be sure to join us again on January 10, 2004, when we'll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Jingle bells ring at end of broadcast.
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