Good morning! I'm Angie Kohlhaas!
And I'm Marian Studer! Welcome to a special episode of the "Bear
Facts"-where we're celebrating Catholic Schools Week here at Bishop Garrigan High
School.
The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2001 is "Gifts and Diversity"-which reflects all that Catholic schools and their students have to offer. At Garrigan and Seton the celebration begins this weekend, when the focus will be on education at the parish masses. On Monday we'll have the traditional system-wide liturgy at St. Cecelia's, with Algona Mayor Lynn Keuck making a special proclamation for the week.
Tuesday will be Grandparents Day. This is traditionally the biggest day of Catholic Schools Week. Garrigan student will welcome their grandparents to school, show them around the building, and have a special lunch with them. Some of the grandparents may even choose to sit in on classes. Then Wednesday we have National Appreciation Day, and each of the students at Garrigan and Seton will be honored with a special gift from the Development Office.
Thursday it's the staff's turn to be honored. They'll have a special breakfast courtesy of Garrigan Parents in Action and the Home/School Association at Seton. Thursday will also be a free jeans day for students. Then Friday we'll have "School Traditions Day", with everyone wearing black and gold during the day and a special "Pack the Gym" night when the Bears host Iowa Falls that night.
Last weekend at the district large group speech contest, Garrigan brought home five Division I, or "excellent" ratings. Bob Brandenburg, Mandy Rahm, Amanda Freking, and Angie Kohlhaas all earned I's for the acting ensemble "But Listen". In improvisational acting Division I's went to Michael Loebach, Mark Rasmussen, Zac Lickteig, Andrea Schiltz, and Sylvia Weber. The Readers' Theatre "A Memory of Harold" earned excellent ratings for Jenna Hansen, Maria Paterson, Beth Becker, Rebecca McGuire, Tony Schmitt, Michael Loebach, Steven Kellner, and Rosie Kirsch.
Garrigan also earned a "I" for the choral reading "You're Only Old Once"-featuring Chris Kohlhaas, Amanda Wolf, Rebecca McGuire, Rachel Foth, Sylvia Weber, Mandy Rahm, and Marian Studer. The Bears' final "I" at district was for their One-Act Play. The show "Happily Ever After" featured David Murphy, Marian Studer, Angie Kohlhaas, Amanda Freking, and Dan Bormann-as well as Bob Brandenburg, Ellie Reising, Lynn Kohlhaas, Tony Schmitt, Sarah Kollasch, and Jennifer Faber. All of these speech students will now advance to state. Congratulations to them and to coaches Mary McCall, Amanda Stewart, and Tony Tindall!
Early this morning, about four hours ago, another group of Garrigan students left Algona, headed for Iowa City. They're going to the Hawkeye Classic Quiz Bowl Tournament. The tournament is hosted by the University of Iowa College Bowl team, whose captain happens to be former Garrigan quiz bowler Aaron Twait. Competing for the Bears today are captain Angie Kohlhaas, together with Lynn Kohlhaas, Steven Kellner, Ellie Reising, David Murphy, and John Kohlhaas. They'll play a minimum of eight games against top teams from all over the state. Good luck to the Bears and their coach, David Burrow.
This week's Senior Spotlight shines on Tony Schmitt and Mihaela Irime.
Tony Schmitt's classmates would probably say that he's going to set the world on fire. Tony is a Whittemore native whose biggest accomplishments have been in cross-country and track. Over the years he's also been active in speech, drama, music, and quiz bowl. Tony loves science, which is probably what he'll major in at college. Good luck, Tony!
Mihaela Irime is Garrigan's new exchange student. She comes to Algona from Romania, and she has family living in the Chicago area. Mihaela is a very bright student who is doing well in all of her classes. We hope she has a wonderful time at Garrigan.
Thanks, Angie! On our Golden Bear calendar, today there's quiz bowl in Iowa City. Then tonight the varsity basketball teams play at Garner.
Tomorrow intramural basketball continues. Then on Monday we'll begin Catholic Schools Week with our all-school liturgy. As at all school masses, the public is invited.
Monday night we'll have the annual Evening of Theatre, saluting all the large-group speech entries. Then on Tuesday it's Grandparents Day for Catholic Schools Week. Tuesday night the basketball Bears travel to Clear Lake.
Wednesday we'll have auditions for the 2001 pops concert. That night the freshman and JV basketball teams play at Algona High. Then on Thursday there's the staff appreciation breakfast.
Thursday is a jeans day for Garrigan students. That night the JV Bears host Garner/Hayfield. Friday we'll finish up Catholic Schools Week with a black and gold day. There's First Friday adoration, and that night we'll pack the gym as the Bears host Iowa Falls.
Finally this week, we'd like to say farewell to exchange student Oliver Hoffman. Oliver came to Garrigan from Germany last fall, and from day one he fit in like he had been here all his life. Oliver was a member of both the cross-country and basketball teams, and one of the highlights of the year at Garrigan came last Friday when Oliver scored the final basket to push the Bears over the 100 point mark in their victory over Clarion/Goldfield. Oliver is flying back to Germany this weekend, and we hope he takes back lots of good memories of his time here at BGHS.
That's the "Bear Facts" for January. Next week we'll have a special show as we celebrate a big milestone--our 300th episode on KLGA. Join us then and every week for all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
