The Bear Facts

January 24, 2026

Good morning! I’m Tate Foertsch!

And I’m Kayden Graves! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, where we’re getting ready for Catholic Schools Week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

For more than fifty years the end of January has brought the nationwide celebration of Catholic Schools Week. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools—United in Faith and Community”. Things start this weekend, when we’ll celebrate Garrigan pride at the area masses. Monday Bishop John Keehener will lead our weekly school mass. The public is welcome to attend, and mass will start at 8:40am.

Tuesday is Staff Appreciation Day, and Wednesday morning we’ll have a schoolwide live rosary in Friedmann Auditorium. Wednesday night at 6:30 will be a special Catholic Schools community celebration, which the public is invited to attend. Thursday is Community Appreciation Day. Younger students will do service projects that day, and throughout the week high school students will be visiting area nursing homes.

Friday is Student Appreciation Day. High school students will have special activities including bowling in Humboldt, a movie in Algona, and Studio Fusion in Ft. Dodge. Meanwhile the younger kids will have special snacks, and they’ll also be playing with inflatables. Throughout Catholic Schools Week we’ll also have special dress days that should help to keep things fun.

Last week we updated you on the Golden Bear basketball teams. The hoop success has continued this past week, with both the boys and girls racking up big wins over Mason City Newman, Ft. Dodge St. Edmond, and Lake Mills. The biggest game was probably the boys match-up with St. Ed’s, which until then was ranked #1 in the state. Garrigan had balanced scoring, with big nights from Mike Joyce, Tate Foertsch, and Amaury Thomas. They led through most of the game, and they held on to beat St. Ed’s 61- 59.

Again this year several Garrigan athletes are wrestling with the Algona Bulldogs. In fact, three of Algona’s most successful wrestlers are Golden Bears Carter and C.J. McGregor on the boys side and Kiah Villareal with the girls. Noah Schafer and Karson Kramer have also been wrestling consistently this winter.

Today seventeen Garrigan students are in Manson for the district large-group speech contest. The Bears have entries today in Radio Broadcasting, Readers Theatre, Ensemble Acting, Television Newscasting, and Group Improvisation. Competitors include Amaury Thomas, Sacha Alesch, Gabe Swift, Aubrey Meyer, Tate Foertsch, Ava Roethler, Kayden Graves, and Alice Casey; together with Aidan Deitering, Madelyn Tigges, Faith Galwe, Harper Nelson, Shiloh Trainer, Sheila Reding, Kylie Capesius, and Cora Deardeuff. Best wishes at district contest, speech!

The Bishop Garrigan school board recently approved the use of virtual learning days, and we had our first virtual day on the snow day this past Wednesday. Teachers prepared different activities, and we spent some time working through those during the snow day. The state allows up to five virtual learning days, but hopefully we won’t be using that many the rest of the winter.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Haley Nemmers. Haley is a Wesley native who is probably best known as a thrower on the Golden Bear track team. She really enjoys her art classes, and after school she works both for Bear Care at Seton and for Kampen's catering. Next year Haley plans to study cosmetology, and we wish her all the best after high school.

On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s the district speech contest today in Manson. Algona is also hosting the boys’ conference wrestling meet today, and there’s a girls wrestling tournament in Mason City.

Monday morning we’ll have a special mass for Catholic Schools Week with Bishop John Keehner presiding. Throughout the week there will be an elementary art show in the hallway by the Garrigan gym.

Tuesday night the Golden Bear basketball teams will be on the road at Garner. Wednesday morning we’ll have the live rosary in Friedmann Auditorium, and that night there’s the Catholic Schools Week social celebration.

Thursday there’s a vocal jazz clinic at Iowa Lakes, and that night the basketball teams host Eagle Grove. Garrigan will host the chamber coffee Friday morning. There’s special Catholic Schools Week activities during the day, and that night the Bears host North Union.

Next Saturday Bishop Garrigan will be part of the state vocal jazz contest, and finally Saturday night will be the winter formal.

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