The Bear Facts
April 23, 2022

 Good morning! I’m Eva Syder!

I’m Garrett Heying!

And I’m Joey Doerning! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Three Garrigan students are on their way to Atlanta this weekend, where they’ll be competing at national DECA. Seniors Mya Kemna and Riley Rosenmeyer and freshman Molly Peterson qualified for nationals by placing high at state DECA back in February. DECA is an organization for students interested in business, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Good luck at nationals, Garrigan DECA!

Three Garrigan seniors were recently honored by the FFA with the Iowa Farmer Degree, the highest award that members of the FFA can receive. Colin Casey, Molly Bormann, and Joe Schumacher all received the award. All three have been members of the Algona FFA all through high school, and they serve as officers in the organization this year. Collin, Molly, and Joe were also part of the farm business management team that earned a gold at state. Congratulations to them!


Fifteen Garrigan students exhibited their creations at the Stinson Prairie Art Show this past Tuesday, and two Garrigan juniors were big award-winners at the event. Joey Doerning won first place honors, and Darius Goche was an honorable mention. Also attending the art show were Reagan Murphy, Veronica Capesius, Avery Berte, Hanna Merron, Jordan Blocker, and Ella Schaaf; as well as Spencer Doerning, Olivia Arndorfer, Brooke Ludwig, Griffin Geving, Ali Lallier, Gavin Swift, and Ava Eisenbarth. Congratulations, artists!

On our last “Bear Facts” we mentioned that the Golden Bear quiz bowl team had competed in the spring 3—2—1 event, a nationwide online contest. Garrigan’s score of 249 made them the top team in Iowa, with 100 points more than any other team in our state. They were also #80 nationwide. Congratulations, quiz bowl!

Each year the Catholic Daughters of the Americas sponsor a contest where students can express their faith through their creative skills. While specific places won’t be announced until a special banquet next month, this past week the C.D.A. announced the names of students who would be winning awards.

At the high school level award winners include Hanna Merron and Lauren Swift in art; and C.J. Weydert, Caelyn Capesius, Ella Schaaf, and Alaina Bormann in photography. Maggie Vaske, Quinn Swift, Isabella Waechter, and Veronica Capesius are winning awards in poetry; and Molly Bormann, Molly Peterson, Violet Bode, and Riley Rosenmeyer won the essay contest.

Younger students winning the C.D.A. contest include Aayden Seiler, Eva Kohlhaas, Addie Bartolo, Cate Birkey, Lucy Eisenbarth, and Lydia Bormann; as well as Carter Cink, Abigail Deardeuff, Dalton Klenz, Faith Glawe, Brooklyn Berte, and Sacha Alesch. Rounding out the award winners are Tate Foertsch, Rosanne Riche, Addy Laubenthal, Lilly Wickman, Jack Muller, Riley Doerning, Magnus Lichter, Alice Casey, Haley Nemmers, Keagan Berte, Shiloh Trainer, and Allison Denker. Congratulations, C.D.A. contest winners!

Garrigan junior Audi Crooks has been rated the #1 high school basketball player in Iowa and one of the top fifty players in America. Audi has been recruited to play college ball by Division I teams from as far away as Connecticut, Maryland, Texas, California, and Oregon. At a special assembly last week she announced that her future plans were to play for the Iowa State Cyclones. Audi still has one more year as a Golden Bear, but we know after that she’ll have a great future down in Ames.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on two different students, Saban Meraz and Devan Becker. Here to tell you about them is Drew Casey.

If you shop at the Algona Hy-Vee store, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Devan Becker and Saban Meraz, since they’re some of the helpful smiles that work there. Saban’s main activities at Garrigan have been cross-country and track, while Devan has been in football and trapshooting. We wish both of them all the best after high school.

Thanks, Drew. On this week’s Golden Bear calendar, the national DECA conference begins today and runs through next Tuesday. Monday there’s coed golf at Forest City, and that night the 5th and 6th graders will have their spring concert.

We’ll celebrate the Divine Mercy Chaplet Monday morning at school. Then Tuesday morning there will be a student mass. That night there’s coed golf at West Hancock, boys track at Emmetsburg, and girls track at Forest City.

There’s no school Wednesday because of the last teacher in-service session of the year. The golf team will compete in the CYO tournament that day, and Wednesday night there are tryouts for the football cheer squad.

Next Thursday morning we’ll have student council elections. Then high school students will spend the morning at the West Bend grotto. That afternoon we’ll participate in the community Giving Back Day.

There’s coed track at North Union Thursday night. Next Friday we’ll have presentations on vocations in our religion classes, and that night there’s coed golf in Garner. Finally next Saturday is prom night 2022.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.