The Bear Facts

 September 20, 2014

 Good morning! I’m Cassiday Vitzthum!

 And I’m Chloe Garman! Welcome to a special edition of “The Bear Facts”, where we’re getting ready for Homecoming week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

“The Sky’s the Limit” is the theme for Homecoming 2014, and the coming week should be a fun time for everyone. The dress-up days for this year’s Homecoming include Super-Hero & Villain Day on Monday, Future Day on Tuesday, Crazy Day on Thursday, and the traditional Black & Gold Day on Friday. Wednesday we’ll have Class Color Day—with the seniors in black, the juniors in white, the sophomores in blue, and the freshmen sporting neon yellow.

 The annual Homecoming coronation will be Wednesday night in Friedmann Auditorium. The Homecoming king candidates this year include Reece Wadle, Ben Vaske, Tyler Schnurr, Andrew Miller, and Nick Kayser; while the queen candidates are Betty Straub, Emily Marlow, Taylor Frideres, Morgan Frideres, and Patricia Brandt.

 As always we’ll have our big Battle of the Classes. Most of the events happen on Wednesday, when we’ll compete in games ranging from volleyball and kickball to trivia and hot dog eating. In addition to the games, each class is designing a banner to carry in the parade and a hoop for teams to run through at the pep rally. Each class is also preparing a skit, and we’re having collections for the food pantry and for new books in the library.

 There are a lot of schools where Homecoming is all about football, but at Garrigan we’ve always incorporated all our fall activities into the celebration. It’s actually volleyball that’s got the most going on this coming week. They’ve got the big CYO tournament tomorrow. Tuesday they’re at home vs. Belmond—Klemme, and Thursday they play at Eagle Grove. There’s even more volleyball next Saturday, when the Bears will host their home tournament.

There’s also one of the closest cross-country meets this coming week. The team runs at Humboldt Monday night. The football team will be back at Conway Field on Friday, when they take on Belmond—Klemme, and the cheerleaders will hold their annual Seton cheer clinic before the game. Other Homecoming events include the traditional Homecoming mass Friday morning, a parade down State Street at 2:00 Friday afternoon, and the traditional Homecoming dance following the game on Friday night.

 Just under a month from now eight Golden Bears will be auditioning for the All-State Music Festival. This year Carolyn Baxter, Dorothy Kirsch, Levi Capesius, and Caitlin Thilges are auditioning for all-state; as are Mariah Bronk, Mark Fakler, Isabelle Davis, and Sam Trainer. They’re putting in long hours this fall practicing difficult music to get ready for the big event.

 The band has also been busy this fall. Just two weeks from now they’ll be participating in both the parade and field competitions at Algona Band Day, and the following week is the state marching contest. This year’s competition show is “80’s Hair Bands”, with a mix of hard rock music and power ballads. Morgan Frideres is the drum major for the band, and Ken Ferjak and Kathryn Simpson are the directors.

 The 2014 Garrigold yearbook came out last week, and everyone’s been busy looking through all the pictures and writing in their friends’ books. The publications staff is already busy working on next year’s yearbook. This year’s editors are Cassidy Vitzthum and Maddie Keith. They’re working together with junior editors Gracie Behr and Courtney Noona; plus Nicole Walker, Sam Bormann, Megan Brown, Chase Hatten, Logan Capesius, Sarah Skilling, and Chloe Garman. Miss Mary McCall is the publications advisor here at Garrigan.

Our Senior Spotlight for Homecoming week shines on one of our queen candidates, Taylor Frideres. Here to tell you about her is Megan Wadle.

 Taylor Frideres is a state champion and school record-holder in track. She’s also lettered in volleyball, cheerleading, speech, choir, and band. She’s active at church and also in the school’s Christian Leadership in Action group. Away from Garrigan you might see her working at the K.C. Hall. She plans to attend U.N.I. next year, and she’d like a career as a physical therapist. We wish Taylor all the best in the future.

Thanks, Megan! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s a freshman volleyball tournament at Armstrong today, plus a JV tournament at Algona High. Tomorrow the varsity plays in the CYO tournament at LeMars Gehlen.

 Monday the cross-country team runs at Humboldt, and the JV football team hosts Eagle Grove. Then Tuesday the volleyball team hosts Belmond—Klemme. 

 Wednesday we’ll have our Battle of the Classes at school. In the afternoon there’s powder puff football. That night we’ll have our Homecoming coronation.

 Thursday there’s more volleyball, with the Bears traveling to Eagle Grove. Friday we’ll have mass in the morning, and the Homecoming skits and parade in the afternoon. That night the football team hosts Belmond—Klemme, with a dance following the game.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week, when we’ll update you on all the results of Homecoming at Bishop Garrigan High School.