Good morning! I’m Bob Brandenburg!
And I’m Jessica Richter! Welcome to another episode of “Bear Facts”, the radio show where every week we tell you what’s happening at Bishop Garrigan High School.
The end of April is one of the most important times of the year in track and field—time for the annual Drake Relays. This year six Golden Bears are competing at Drake. Senior Adam Sundall, who was the state cross-country champion last fall, will be competing in both the mile and the two-mile races at Drake. The boys’ four by 100-meter relay also qualified for Drake. Running in that relay this morning are sophomore Hank Greer, and juniors Dennis Gisch, Chris Weir, and John Mosbach. The Golden Bear girls also qualified an event for the Drake Relays. Junior Angie Froehlich will be competing in the high jump at today’s event.
The Drake qualifiers aren’t the only good news on the track teams. Most of the competition so far has been against larger schools, but the Bears have made a good showing at their meets. On the boys’ side everyone’s talking about senior middle distance man Phil Kramer, junior sprinters Joe Mayer and Dean Boever, sophomore distance runner Ben Richter, and sophomore sprinter Nick Even. The girls have also had a good start to the season. Tuesday at Garner they won eight separate events and ended up second overall in the meet, just narrowly missing the meet championship. Congratulations to all the Golden Bear track and field standouts.
This weekend is a special time for almost every Garrigan junior. After a yearlong preparation, now is the time they will be confirmed as full members of the Catholic Church. The Bishop is here in Algona this weekend to perform the sacrament. Confirmation for St. Joe and Livermore is this afternoon at 2:30, and candidates from St. Michael’s in Whittemore will be confirmed at 7:30 this evening. Tomorrow at 9am there will be confirmation at St. John’s in Bancroft; and then at 2:30pm there will be a joint ceremony in Algona for St. Cecelia’s, St. Benedict, and St. Joseph of Wesley.
Several members of the Golden Bear quiz bowl team were up early this morning to head to their last meet of the year. They’re east of Waterloo today, in the town of Fairbank, for the Wapsie Valley Invitational Tournament. For senior veterans Abby Rahm and Adam Foertsch this is the last quiz bowl of their career. They’re joined today by junior Jennifer Reinhart; sophomores Paul Loebach, Angie Kohlhaas, and Brooke Buscherfeld; and freshman Bob Brandenburg. Good luck to the Bears—we hope you finish up the season right!
Twenty-three other Garrigan students are also away from Algona today. They’re part of the annual Model United Nations conference at UNI in Cedar Falls. For the past two days, they’ve been debating global policy, representing the views of the Caribbean countries like the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Belize, the war-torn Asian nation of Cambodia, and the poverty-stricken African nation of Burkina Faso. The conference wraps up today, and the Model UN’ers should be back here at Garrigan this afternoon.
Last week forty-two Garrigan students joined together with thirty-eight students from Algona High in giving the gift of life. They donated their blood to the Red Cross bloodmobile. The Red Cross was able to collect eighty units of blood from the area high school students, and they sent a note of thanks to the students for their generosity and volunteerism.
The North Central Conference held its annual art show last Thursday in Webster City. This year eleven Garrigan students had artwork entered in the exhibition. They included Doug Besch, Maria Bormann, Brooke Buscherfeld, Anna Erpelding, Nate Hanson, and Jake Kohlhaas. Also exhibiting at the show were Jake Kohlhaas, Angie Kohlhaas, Ashley Schiltz, Jake Sutter, Angie Weber, and Sheena Pease. Congratulations to art teacher Steve Brosnan and all the North Central Conference art honorees.
It’s that time of year again—time for the student politicians to come out and campaign. Next Wednesday, we’ll have our annual student council elections here at Garrigan. There will be quite a race for student body president this year; no less than four pairs of candidates are vying for that honor. Three-year student council veteran Ed Elbert is teaming up with his friend Jason Kohlhaas. Running against them are junior class co-president Tyler Struck and his running mate, Jake Kohlhaas. The third set of candidates includes Pam Kramer and Bethany Miller, and rounding out the field are Eric Becker and Corrie Stetzel. Good luck to all these candidates. We’ll let you know who the winners are on next week’s show.
This week’s senior spotlight shines on Abbey Studer and our very own Jessica Richter. Here with the details on them is Abby Rahm.
Abbey Studer is one of the best-known athletes in the Class of ’99. She’s a four-year volleyball and basketball veteran, and she’s also active in choir, Model UN, publications, Spanish club, and National Honor Society. Abbey will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best.
If there’s one voice you’ve heard more than any other on the “Bear Facts” this year, it’s probably been Jessica Richter. In addition to being our number one announcer, Jessica’s biggest activities are publications, National Honor Society, and the BGHS solid gold band. Jessica will also be joining the college crowd next fall at Long Island University in New York City, and we wish her the very best of luck.
Thanks, Abby! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, today there’s the Drake Relays in Des Moines and the quiz bowl team is competing at Wapsie Valley in Fairbank. Also this morning the boys’ golf team plays in the Algona Invitational.
This afternoon there’s confirmation for Livermore and St. Joe, and the Whittemore confirmation is tonight. Confirmation continues tomorrow, with mass in Bancroft at 9:30; and the joint Algona-Wesley-St. Benedict ceremony at 2:30pm.
Monday the golf teams face Iowa Falls. Then on Tuesday the advanced biology classes will be taking a canoe trip. That night the boys’ track team runs in the Emmetsburg E’Hawk Relays at Estherville, while the girls track team runs at Forest City.
Wednesday morning we’ll have the election for student council president. The candidates will answer questions in a televised forum, and then students will cast their ballots. That night the golf teams take on Humboldt.
Also on Wednesday the girls’ track team runs at Humboldt. Then on Thursday we’ll have an early dismissal for an in-service where the teachers will be planning the activities calendar for the 1999-2000 school year.
Friday morning the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will elect their class presidents for next year. That night the golf teams face Eagle Grove, while the boys’ track squad runs at Hampton Dumont.
Next Saturday the Garrigan math team will compete in the state math tournament in Des Moines. Then that night we’ll be spending a night in paradise at Prom Night, 1999.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for April. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us again next Saturday for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
