THE BEAR FACTS
January 23, 2021

Good morning! I’m Ava Eisenbarth!

I’m Mya Kemna!

And I’m Riley Rosenmeyer! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you updated on all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Normally on the third weekend after Christmas break there would be a bus leaving Garrigan early in the morning, headed to district large group speech contest. As you know by now, the 2020-2021school year is anything but a normal school year, and speech contest is yet another thing that has changed because of the pandemic.

The state association provided several options for contest, but with the advice of the Diocese of Sioux City, we chose to participate in an asynchronous virtual contest. That means that Garrigan’s entries were digitally recorded by a still camera in a single take earlier this week. Private links to those recordings were sent out so they can be viewed and judged remotely. The ratings and comments will be available later.

The bad part about having the contest virtually is that our families and friends can’t watch the performances. We know they’re cheering on the speech team in spirit, though. This year Garrigan has seven entries at district group contest. These include the readers’ theatre Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie and a choral reading performance of Dr. Seuss’ Oh! The Places You’ll Go.

There are two entries in the category of Ensemble Acting, where performers memorize and act out a play without costumes or props. These include The Eskimos Have Landed and The Mouse and the Raven. There are also two musical theatre entries, which are taken from the plays Bonnie and Clyde and How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The final entry is a group improvisation. Best wishes to Coaches David Burrow and Renetta Seiler and all the large group speech participants.

Catholic Schools Week will start a week from now. This year’s theme for the nationwide celebration is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service”, which celebrates the fact that Catholic schools put Christian faith and values into action as we work for academic excellence. Just like everything else, Catholic Schools Week will be different because of COVID-19. Only some of the classes will be able to attend mass in person, for instance. It should still be a fun week, though, and we’re all looking forward to it.

Major improvements were recently maid to the Bishop Garrigan weight room. The room features brand new equipment with the Golden Bear logo, and it is a big improvement over what was there before. Funds for the program came from the senior class gift, the Gridiron Gold program, and all the different sports whose athletes use the weight room. We know the room will get lots of use throughout the coming years.

You can always check out what’s new at Garrigan on the student website. Believe it or not, the website was started twenty-five years ago by a student who went on to a career in computer science. It’s been maintained by Garrigan students ever since. This semester Isaiah Plathe, Lazarus Elbert, Kyphus Goche, Sean Davis, and Devan Becker are taking pictures and creating web pages for every activity in the school. Be sure to check out their work online at bggoldenbears.org.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Kyphus Goche. Here with the scoop on him is Marguerite Fakler!

Kyphus Goche comes to Garrigan from the Bancroft area. In winter Kyphus is a starter on the Golden Bear boys basketball team, and when it’s warmer he spends his summers playing baseball. Kyphus is also one of the students who works on the school website. We wish him good luck in this year’s sports and also after high school.

Thanks Marguerite . On our Golden Bear calendar this week, the district large group speech entries will be judged virtually today. Then on Monday the JJV boys basketball team will be playing Garner Hayfield at Ventura.

Tuesday the JV and varsity Bears will be hosting a quad versus Garner Hayfield. It will be law enforcement night, with a special salute to area officers.

Wednesday we’ll have a student mass in the morning. For a change the high school will be attending mass in person. There’s an early dismissal on Wednesday, with teacher inservice in the afternoon.

Thursday night the JJV basketball team hosts North Union, and then on Friday the JV and varsity Bears will play North Union up in Armstrong. Finally next Saturday the #1-ranked Golden Bear girls have a special match-up with Cedar Rapids Xavier at Coe College.

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