The Bear Facts
April 27, 2014
Good morning! I’m Cassidy Vitzthum!
I’m Michael Condoleon!
And I’m Nicole Behr! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we keep you in touch with all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Tonight is Prom Night 2014. This evening dozens of couples will enjoy an evening of elegance and fun that continues all night long. This year’s prom theme is “Diamonds in the Sky”, and the juniors have been working hard to transform the gym into a beautiful ballroom. They put the final touches earlier this week, and we’re looking forward to seeing all the decorations.
For prom this year many couples will begin their evening with a nice dinner at Emerald’s. Then there’s the main event, with the prom grand march starting at 8pm Central Time. When the formal dance ends, it’s off to After-Prom, where the fun continues into the wee hours. There’s a whole season’s worth of fun packed into one night.
The state competition for the Great Plains Math League is taking place today in Iowa City. Because of prom, Garrigan will not be participating in the event. However, we want to congratulate the six Golden Bears who qualified for state in math. At regional competitions earlier this year Jake Hamilton, Brittany Kirsch, Zach Kollasch, Kaitlyn Fogarty, Dorothy Kirsch, and Devin Degen all earned scores that qualified them for state. Congratulations,
math-letes!
Last week the Golden Bear quiz bowl team participated in their tenth competition of the year. This time it was the online Think Fast Virtual Quiz Bowl, sponsored by Iowa State University. The Bears did by far the best among small schools in the competition, and they held their own against big schools as well. They ended up in third place overall, with only Class 4-A Ames High and Linn-Mar doing better. Congratulations, quiz bowl!
Garrigan students Vanessa Arndorfer and Joseph Espinosa were recently named Norman Borlaug World Food Prize Scholars by the World Food Prize Institute. The institute works to fight hunger around the world, and both Vanessa and Joseph did research in that area. They participated in the World Food Prize Youth Institute at Iowa State University on April 14, 2014. Congratulations to Vanessa and Joseph, and to biology teacher Beany Bode.
Again this year many Garrigan students are participating in the Izaak Walton League’s clay target shooting program. Sixteen students are on Garrigan’s team this year. At the core of the team are seniors Morgan Muller and Dillon Walker and junior Jacob Thul. Sophomores Jacob Berte, Mariah Bronk, LeeAnn Eischen, Logan Rosenmwyer, and Nicole Walker are also on the target shooting team. The remainder of the group are freshmen—including Alex Lichter, Chase Hatten, Matthew Thul, Grant Arndorfer, Charles Becker, Sam Harrington, Taylor Becker, and Megan Brown. Good luck, shooters!
Last Wednesday we had our annual service day at Garrigan. Originally this was scheduled to coincide with the City of Algona’s “Giving Back Day”, but the city cancelled their event due to weather. We went ahead with service day at Garrigan, though. Every student participated, and we did a wide range of clean-up projects here at school, in the parish churches in Bancroft and Whittemore, around Algona, and on the stretch of highway 18 near Sexton.
This coming week will be a special one for math teachers Daryl and Kathy Kohlhaas. In honor of their combined seventy-five years of service to Garrigan and Seton, family and friends arranged for them to take a trip to Rome for the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. They left on their trip after school last Thursday, and they’ll be gone through this coming week. The Kohlhaases will be part of more than a million who will be at the Vatican when the popes are elevated to sainthood.
We’ll have our annual student council elections coming up next week. This year we have more students running for student council than ever before. Thirty-four people have taken out papers to run for student council. For student council co-president, three pairs of candidates are running: Ben Vaske and Andrew Miller, Betty Straub and Taylor Illg, and Nick Kayser and Morgan Frideres. Other students are entered in the races for class presidents and representatives. We’ll let you know the results on next week’s show.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Morgan Muller and Alexa Capesius. Here to tell you about them is Michael Berke.
Morgan Muller’s biggest activity is FFA. She’s been an officer in the Algona FFA all through school, and she’s made trips to the state and national FFA conventions. Morgan is also in target shooting, and she’s been involved in numerous service projects over the years.
Alexa Capesius won the state championship in golf last year, and she’s hoping to repeat as a medalist at state in 2014. Alexa was also named a DARE role model and talked with Seton students about healthy lifestyles. Both Alexa and Morgan will be off to college next year, and we wish them all the best in the future.
Thanks, Michael Oscar Robert Berke III! On our Golden Bear calendar this week, tonight is prom night. Then next Tuesday we’ll have the election for student council co-presidents.
Tuesday night there’s boys track at Emmetsburg, while the girls run at Forest City. The danz squad will participate in Character Counts Day in Des Moines that day.
There’s CYO golf on Wednesday. Both the boys and girls are in Ft. Dodge, with the boys at the country club and the girls at Lakeside Golf Course. There’s also a trap shooting meet at Palmer Wednesday night.
Also on Wednesday is the spring concert and art show. Both the high school band and vocal groups will perform, and art students will exhibit their creations. The show begins at 6:00 Wednesday night.
We’ll have class president elections next Thursday. That afternoon the girls golf team hosts their home tournament, and there’s also boys and girls track at Armstrong.
Next Friday is Grandparents Day. Grandparents will start their day with mass at Seton, and then they’ll have lunch here at Garrigan. The golf teams face Humboldt that night, with the girls at home and the boys away.
Finally this week we want to extend our condolences to the family of Beanie Cooper, Garrigan’s first football coach and the founder of a long tradition of success for the Golden Bears. Coach Cooper died on Easter Sunday at the age of 86. We know all the Golden Bear athletes will do their best to keep his spirit alive.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for April. Thanks for listening, and be sure to tune in next week when we’ll be saying goodbye to the seniors here at Bishop Garrigan High School.
TS 4/24/14
