The Bear Facts

December 21, 2024

(Jingle bells ring)

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! I’m Thadd Kollasch!

I’m Molly Peterson!

I’m Tate Foertsch!

I’m Trayton Cink!

I’m Hanna Merron!

I’m Brooke Ludwig!

I’m Griffin Geving!

And I’m Drew Muller! Welcome to a special holiday episode of the “Bear Facts”, where we’re wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from Bishop Garrigan High School.

We dismissed yesterday for Christmas vacation. This afternoon we’ll have the big holiday basketball matchup at Algona High, and then we’re off until January 3rd. Some snow this week helped put us in the Christmas spirit, and we’re all looking forward to the long holiday break.

This year senior Trayton Cink got a couple of early Christmas gifts. At the start of the week Trayton learned he had been selected for the Shrine Bowl, a summer football game that honors the top players from all classes. It’s been eight years since the last Golden Bear was selected for the Shrine Bowl, Gibson Behr in 2017. Trayton was also honored this week as a “Beck’s Player with Heart”, a selection based on his recovery from injury and his work on the family’s six-generation farm. Congratulations, Trayton!

Our school also received something kind of like a Christmas gift. We earned a grant to install numerous security cameras both inside and outside of the Garrigan and Seton buildings. While we haven’t had major issues with security in the past, the school is hoping to be proactive and prevent problems before they happen.

For many years now Garrigan and Seton students have raised money to purchase farm animals for families in our twin parish of St. Jeanne de Chantal in Haiti. This year during Advent we’ve been raising money to dig wells to provide water for the community. Our goal for Advent was to donate $3,000 to the well project.

For more than thirty years we’ve celebrated Christmas on the “Bear Facts” with a special holiday survey of Garrigan students. This year’s first question was “What’s the best Christmas present you ever got?” By far the most common answer was a new phone, though computers and I-pads were also popular. There were also votes for all the major gaming systems.

Shiloh Trainer, Sacha Alesch, Carley Nielson, Gibson Menke, Sheila Reding, Bree Ludwig, C.J. McGregor, Josephine Joyce, Reece Kemna, and Hailee Reutzel all said their best gift ever was a dog. Isaac DeLange, Owen Murphy, Stormi Larson, and Kegan Berte liked getting trips—to places like Mexico, Italy, and Florida. Ethan Marso, Kollyn Wiemers, Noah Schaffer, Carson Auen, and Weston Rosenmeyer are hunters, and they all liked getting guns for Christmas, while Carter McGregor liked a mounted deer head.

Molly Peterson’s top gift was a Barbie dream house, while Emmi Bartolo’s favorite was an American Girl doll. Gabby Buscher loved getting a drivable toy Jeep, and Bryden Morse, Matt Besch, and Aidan Lichter loved getting Legos for Christmas. Karson Kramer and Tate Foertsch enjoyed receiving baseball bats, Teague Alesch liked his Christmas ping-pong table, Leo Snyder loved getting snowboarding gear, and Kayden Graves’ favorite gift was a punching bag. Brooke Ludwig said she loved getting a homemade card. Then there’s Nate Leerar, who said he likes all his gifts.

Our next question was “What Christmas traditions does your family do?” Nearly half of the students who responded said they visit different family members over the holidays. The next most popular answer was going to church on Christmas Eve. Carley Nielson’s family usually sees a movie at the theater on Christmas Day, while Stormi Larson and Nick Leerar watch movies at home after opening presents.

Zoe Montag and Alice Casey’s families always drive around to look at Christmas lights. Benny Matthews’ family sings songs and plays board games to celebrate the holiday. Ava Snider’s family dresses up in matching pajamas, Max Buscher’s family has a white elephant gift exchange, and Corbin Darling’s family has a tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas.

The DeLange, Wiemers, Greteman, Trainer, and Sidles families all have traditions of traveling at Christmas. Spencer Doerning searches for a pickle in the Christmas tree. Jaelyn Antoine and Madelyn Tigges always play bingo at Christmas, and Molly Peterson always puts out cookies and milk for Santa. Christmas can be celebrated at a wide range of times, too. Cora Deardeuff says her family sometimes celebrates as early as October, while Scott Bormann said his family can wait until the third week in January.

Our next question was “What’s your favorite holiday food?” The number one answer was cheesy potatoes, and mashed potatoes were also right up there. Ham was the top main dish—with Noah Berte, Max Buscher, Henry Bode, Caelum Blocker, Amaury Thomas, Kyle Bormann, Gabe Swift, Thadd Kollasch, and Logan Buscher all giving that answer. Ethan Marso and Carter McGregor prefer turkey, Drew Muller likes steak for Christmas, Molly Peterson and Haley Nemmers have crab, and Mike Joyce enjoys pork loin. Cora Deardeuff has a little bit different food at the holidays. She enjoys tamales and menudo.

Many people said they like Christmas cookies, and some mentioned specific types. Leo Snyder prefers gingerbread; Tate Foertsch, Eli Casey, and Addison Kuper all like Oreo balls; Emmi Bartolo enjoys star cookies; Spencer Doerning likes sugar cookies; Konner Kramer’s favorite is snickerdoodles, and Jaelyn Antoine likes scotcheroos. As for other desserts, Kayden Graves and Carter Schwab like apple crisp; Madden Miller, Carson Auen, and Hailee Reutzel like various kinds of pie; Sam Greteman says he enjoys kingle, and Griffin Geving likes rum cake.

Our final survey question was “What are you planning to do over Christmas break?” This time the most common answer was “hanging out with family and friends”, followed by “sleep”, “eat”, and “work”. Several people are travelling—to places like Cancun, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Okoboji. Karson Kramer and Lucas Behounek plan to work out over the holidays, Aiden Lichter says he’ll spend the whole break playing Call of Duty, and Titan Troyer will be playing Fortnite. Sean Thilges plans to open presents, while Aidan Deitering says he’ll be playing with his presents.

Sawyer Herrick says he’ll be cleaning up his grandpa’s really messy shed. Brady Galligan’s main activity will be eating cheesy potatoes, and Sheila Reding says she’ll be helping her brothers take care of livestock. Damien Burse says he’ll be hibernating over Christmas; Karson Sidles plans to do absolutely nothing; Dan Meis, Carley Nielson, Tate Foertsch, Ava Snide, and Max Buscher all said “relax and chill”; and Milo Geving said “be a chill guy”. Scott Bormann is a little more ambitious. He says he’ll be writing a comp paper over the holiday break.

Our Senior Spotlight for the holidays shines on Eric Lansing. Eric used to be in football, and he’ll be graduating when the first semester ends to enroll in college classes. Away from Garrigan you might see Eric at the Algona Feed Store. He’d like to be a state trooper in the future, and we wish Eric the best of luck after he graduates.

This afternoon on our Golden Bear calendar there’s the big crosstown basketball matchup at Algona High. There’s also JV wrestling this morning at West Hancock.

The calendar is pretty empty as we celebrate Christmas and New Year’s. On Thursday, January 2nd there’s JJV basketball with the Bears hosting Belmond—Klemme. School starts up again on Friday, January 3rd, and that night there’s a basketball quad at North Iowa.

That wraps up the “Bear Facts” for 2024. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday break, but be sure to join us again on January 4, 2025 when we’ll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School. Until then, …

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

(Jingle bells ring)