The Bear Facts
October 20, 2012
Good morning! I’m Allison Frideres!
I’m Grace Steil!
And I’m Erin Reedy! Thanks for joining us again for
the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you in touch with all
the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
The big event this weekend is all-state music
auditions. Nine Golden Bears are down in Storm Lake today, competing to be part
of the prestigious all-state choir. The group includes bass singers Nick Bronk,
Jake Hamilton, Shawn Vaske, and Dustin Miller; tenors Alex and Christian
Matthews; altos Grace Steil and Dorothy Kirsch; and soprano Melanie Mergen.
The auditioners have spent the fall working on
complicated music, including Mozart’s “Veni, Sancte, Spirtus” or “Come, Holy
Spirit” and a Hatian composition called “Dominus Vobiscum”. Other works include
“Sure on This Shining Night”, “Ave Maria”, and an arrangement of “Skip to My
Lou”. They’ll also sing the traditional all-state numbers “America, the
Beautiful” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
Students auditioning for all-state sing together in
groups. They are judged on intonation, rhythm, tone quality, and musicianship.
The top-scoring students will be re-called and will sing their voice parts
unaccompanied. There are six different all-state audition sites, and each has a
quota of selections they can make. Only the top singers will end up performing
at the All-State Music Festival in Ames next month. Good luck to everyone
auditioning for the all-state choir.
Last weekend the Golden Bear quiz bowl team began
their season by hosting Iowa’s largest academic competition. Fifty-seven teams
were registered for the event, and Garrigan more than held our own against some
stiff competition. While Ankeny was the overall winner, four of Garrigan’s six
teams ended up in the top half of the field, and two of them made playoffs. The
team of Zach Kollasch, Tony Kollasch, Levi Bernhard, and Hannah Bernhard ended
up keeping the fourth place trophy from the tournament.
There’s more quiz bowl action today. A bus left at
6:15 this morning to head down to a tournament in Ankeny. Garrigan will have two
teams competing today. The first includes Gaby Steil, together with Levi
Bernhard, Zach Kollasch, Hannah Bernhard, and Tony Kollasch; and the other
features Taylor Illg, Devin Degen, Joseph Espinosa, and Carolyn Baxter. Good
luck once again, quiz bowl!
Every day this fall we’ve offered special prayers for
BGHS art teacher Steve Brosnan. Earlier this year Broz was diagnosed with
multiple myeloma, a serious type of bone cancer. He’s been away from school this
fall while he underwent and recovered from stem cell replacement. Broz is at
home recovering now, but it will still be a while before he’s back to his old
self.
Last Thursday we held a jeans day to raise money to
help with Mr. Brosnan’s expenses, and we raised well over a thousand dollars
from that free-will donation. If you’d like to help Broz as he recovers, there
will be a benefit meal and auction coming up on Sunday, November 4 at Trinity
Lutheran Church. If you can’t make it to the event, donations are also being
accepted at Farmers State Bank in Algona. We also ask that you join us in our
prayers for Mr. Brosnan’s full recovery.
Last Sunday forty members of Garrigan’s Christian
Leadership in Action group participated in the annual CROP Walk. They collected
donations that go to Church World Service, an inter-denominational group that
helps fight hunger. For years now, Garrigan students have been the largest part
of the local CROP Walk, and we’re proud that this year our forty walkers raised
around $1,000 for the project.
The state-qualifying meet for cross-country was
scheduled for last Thursday. However, because of storms, Garrigan’s meet at
Holstein was postponed to this coming Monday. The state-qualifying meet is one
of the few times during the year that the Bears compete against schools their
own size, and both the Garrigan boys and girls teams stand a good shot of doing
well on Monday.
This past week was National School Lunch Week, and we
want to salute our kitchen staff at Garrigan. Geri Reising is in charge of the
school lunch program for the Bishop Garrigan Schools, and she has a
well-qualified kitchen staff working for her. Each day the cooks have to put
together a complete meal that costs less than a single sandwich at a fast food
place. This year they’ve also been incorporating healthier options like whole
wheat bread and more fruits and vegetables. A big thank-you to the lunch ladies
for all the hard work they do.
The annual BGHS magazine drive begins next Friday.
Every high school student will have a packet to sell magazines, and you can also
buy online, with a link straight from the BGHS website. Forty percent of
everything you buy stays right here to support student activities at Garrigan.
So check your subscriptions, and find your favorite Golden Bear to renew them.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Noelle
Vitzthum. Noelle is a cheerleading captain who was named an all-state
cheerleader. She has also won state and national honors in dance. She qualified
for nationals with the Health Occupations Students of America and for state in
trapshooting. Noelle is also a basketball statskeeper, and she has been active
in golf, Christian Leadership, and student council. Away from Garrigan, you
might see her working at Emerald’s. Noelle plans to attend either Iowa or UNI,
and she wants to continue cheering in college. Good luck, Noelle!
On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s
all-state choir auditions in Storm Lake today, and the quiz bowl team is
competing at Ankeny. Tomorrow there will be a VIRTUS training session for people
who want to volunteer in the school or area churches.
Monday there’s the cross-country state qualifying
meet. The Bears will be running on their CYO course at Holstein. Then Wednesday
is the first round of football playoffs.
Thursday we’ll have a jeans day to raise money for the
student gift to Gala. Then Friday the annual magazine drive begins. That night
exhibitors will be setting up for the annual autumn craft show.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for
joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week to hear all the news from
Bishop Garrigan High School.
JR10/18/12
