The Bear Facts
January 26, 2013
Good morning! I’m Nicole Behr!
I’m Mallory Schiltz!
And I’m Aisha Miller! Thanks for tuning into the “Bear Facts”, where this week we’re celebrating Catholic Schools Week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.
Catholic Schools Week is a time when all across America we celebrate the difference that Catholic education makes. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Raising the Standards”. The festivities start this weekend, when Garrigan students will be serving as readers, cantors, and ushers at masses in all the area parishes. Garrigan started as a cooperative venture between five parishes: St. Cecelia’s, St. Joseph—Bode, St. Benedict, St. Michael’s in Whittemore, and St. Joseph—Wesley. Today we also have students from Bancroft, Livermore, West Bend, Humboldt, and Emmetsburg, and all those parishes will be celebrating Catholic Schools week with us.
We’ll begin the week at school on Monday with the Algona mayor issuing a special proclamation. Right after that we’ll have a special all-school mass. Long-time Superintendent Fr. Cecil Friedmann will officiate, and we’ll have a collection for the CARE Team at mass. Tuesday will be Student Appreciation Day, and then on Wednesday the festivities continue with the annual Speech Spectacular.
Seton will have trivia questions all through Catholic Schools Week, and 5th and 6th grade students will lead their morning prayer. All the teachers at Garrigan and Seton will be treated to a staff breakfast on Thursday morning. Friday will be a Black & Gold Day, and that also that day Seton will celebrate its birthday party with inflatable toys for all the kids. It should be a fun Catholic Schools Week for everyone at both Garrigan and Seton.
Last Saturday Bishop Garrigan competed in the district large group speech contest over in Spencer. The Bears had an excellent day, with two-thirds of their entries earning Division One ratings. Among those advancing to state was the readers’ theatre A Mad Breakfast with Erica Carlson, Alissa Kirsch, Taylor Frideres, Janet Kenyon, Betty Straub, Morgan Frideres, Emily Riesenberg, Taylor Illg, Amanda Altman, and Nick Bronk.
Two acting ensembles are also going on to state: Deliver Us Not with Morgan Frideres, Betty Straub, and Mark Fakler; and Floral Fantasy starring Shawn Vaske and Melanie Mergen. The mime Kung Fu Princess featuring Hannah Boisjolie, Makayla Foertsch, and Logan Kumm got a “I”, and so did the musical theatre production Les Miserables with Shawn Vaske, Matthew Fakler, Christian Matthews, Mark Fakler, Alex Matthews, and Jake Hamilton. The final group going onto state are freshmen Carolyn Baxter, Joseph Espinosa, and Kylie Fox, with their radio broadcasting selection. Congratulations to coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow and the speech team!
The big event today is quiz bowl. Eleven BGHS students left very early this morning for a tournament over at Sioux City Heelan. The Bears’ varsity team today includes Jakob Hamilton, Levi Bernhard, Zach Kollasch, Hannah Bernhard, and Tony Kollasch. JV players are Mark Fakler, Taylor Illg, Kylie Fox, Carolyn Baxter, Joseph Espinosa, and Devin Degen. The Bears did very well at this tournament last year, and they’re hoping to repeat their success in 2013. Good luck, quiz bowl!
This past week Garrigan and Seton got back data from the state on student achievement for the past year. While we’d always like to increase our scores, we’re pleased that our proficiency in reading, math, and science is well above national levels. Teachers looked at this data at their recent inservice, and they’ll be using it to help students achieve even more in the coming year.
This week’s Senior Spotlight this week shines on Erica Carlson and Kelli Rowley. Here to tell you about them is Connor Langermann.
Erica Carlson is unique among our seniors, because she’s been part of the Algona swim team all through school. Erica also enjoys speech and track, she’s part of the Christian Leadership group, and she’s been in cross-country. Away from school, she works as a lifeguard at the YMCA. Erica plans to go to Simpson next year, and we wish her good luck.
Kelli Rowley is a four-year member of the Golden Bear cross-country team, where she’s both been a runner and helped out managing the team. Kelli also keeps busy with many service projects for Garrigan’s Christian Leadership in Action group. Kelli hopes to continue her education after high school, and we wish her all the best.
Thanks, Connor. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s quiz bowl today at Sioux City Heelan. Tonight the varsity basketball teams play at Garner.
All weekend students will be participating in mass roles in their local parish liturgies. Tomorrow intramural basketball continues. Then Monday we’ll begin Catholic Schools Week with an all-school mass.
Monday night the freshman basketball teams play at Algona High. Tuesday there’s basketball at Clear Lake. The freshman and JV boys play at Clear Creek School, with the JV girls and the varsity teams at the high school.
Catholic Schools Week continues on Wednesday. At 6:00 that night we’ll have the Speech Spectacular, which showcases all the events that competed at large group contest.
Thursday there’s a staff breakfast in the morning. The freshmen host Mason City Newman Thursday night. Friday Seton will be hosting the Chamber coffee. It will be a black and gold day that day.
Friday night the Bears take on Algona High. The JV games will be at Garrigan that night, while the varsity plays across town. Then next Saturday there’s state speech at LeMars.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for Catholic Schools Week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
