The Bear Facts
March 28 2015


Good morning! I’m Zach Kollasch!

I’m Tony Kollasch!

And I’m Dorothy Kirsch! Thanks for joining us for the 913th weekly episode of the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we bring you all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last Saturday five members of the Golden Bear quiz bowl team headed down to Waukee to compete in the Iowa/Nebraska regional history bowl. It was mostly 4-A schools that participated in the event, but even so the Bears came away with a winning record. They beat teams from Clinton and Madrid, Iowa, as well as Bellevue, Nebraska; while their losses were to Sioux City Heelan and to Waukee—a school with more than ten times the students we have at Garrigan.

The winning record technically qualified the Bears for the National History Bowl. They are declining that invitation, though, because they already have plans to compete at the National Academic Championships, which will be held May 29 – 31 in Alexandria, Virginia. Competing for the Bears in the history bowl were Hannah Bernhard, Zach Kollasch, Tony Kollasch, Taylor Illg, and Joseph Espinosa. Congratulations to them and to Coach David Burrow.

This was a big week for the Kollasch twins. In addition to the history bowl, Zach and Tony also signed letters of intent to run for Briar Cliff University next year. The Kollasch brothers have made it to state in both track and cross-country, and they should be valuable athletes in college as well.


Tony Kollasch received even more good news this past week. He learned that he will be receiving the Bishop’s Scholarship from the Diocese of Sioux City. Only two students from throughout northwest Iowa receive that award each year, and Tony is the first student from Garrigan ever to get the honor, which is valued at $30,000. Congratulations, Tony!

Monday three Garrigan students will be heading over to Cedar Falls for the All-State Speech Festival. More than 9,000 students were entered in district speech contests earlier this winter, and of those only 460 were named Outstanding Performers and advanced to All-State. Hannah Bernhard will perform at All-State with her Expository Address “Ludicrous Laws”, while Nick Kayser will read a Prose selection called “Girls”. Mark Fakler will be honored at the opening ceremonies as a double-entry all-stater. He will perform in Improvisation, and he’s also being honored for his Musical Theatre performance of “Run, Freedom, Run”. Congratulations to the all-state honorees and to Coaches Mary McCall and David Burrow.

You’ve got one more chance to catch the Garrigan spring play. The final performance of A-Haunting We Will Go will be tonight at 7:00 in Friedmann Auditorium. This will be the final stage performance for seniors Dorothy Kirsch, Taylor Illg, Mark Fakler, Emily Riesenberg, Hannah Bernhard, Nick Kayser, Betty Straub, and Morgan Frideres. So be sure to catch all the fun of A-Haunting We will Go.

Last Thursday twenty Garrigan seniors went up to the Caring and Sharing Hands Mission in Minneapolis. They toured the facilities there and helped serve breakfast and lunch. Students making the trip include Kaitlyn Fogarty, Amanda Altman, Betty Straub, Morgan Frideres, Emily Riesenberg, Mark Fakler, Taylor Frideres, and Cassidy Vitzthum; as well as Emily Marlow, Nick Kayser, Maddie Keith, Patricia Brandt, Taylor Illg, Ben Vaske, Reece Wadle, Megan Lappe, Brittany Arndorfer, Emily Berte, Andrew Miller, and Tyler Schnurr.

Next week we’ll have our traditional Holy Thursday Morning of Reflection as we prepare for Easter. Christian Leadership students have planned a busy day. It includes presentations on the recent trip to St. Cecelia’s sister parish in Haiti, visits with residents at Algona Manor and the Good Samaritan Center, movies with a religious theme, Stations of the Cross, and a rosary. We’ll dismiss early next Thursday to get ready for the Easter holiday.

Several people have asked when the end of the school year will be this year. Because we’re counting minutes this year rather than days, we actually had quite a bit of cushion built into the original calendar. Even with all the snow this winter, the last day of semester tests was just pushed a couple of days forward. It will now be Wednesday, May 20. The seniors are still set to finish up on May 8, with graduation set for May 10.

This past week the selections were announced for the All-Intramural basketball team. This honor is based partly on an online poll and partly on points scored during the season. The first team honorees include Captain Cameron Langerman, Andrew Lallier, Landen Studer, Donovan Berte, and Carter Hall. Second team honorees were Tony Kollasch, Mark Fakler, Logan Besch, Devin Degen, and Ben Fogarty; while Logan Capesius, Danielle Plathe, Kaitlyn Fogarty, Emily Riesenberg, and Taylor Illg earned honorable mentions. The all-intramural referee for 2015 was Ben Vaske.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Gaby Steil. Gaby is a National Honor Society member who comes to Garrigan from the Livermore area. She is a four year letterwinner in band and choir who is literally instrumental to the success of the band. She also is a multi-year stage manager in drama, and her team did well at the community quiz bowl a week ago. Gaby is looking at going to Simpson college in the fall, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Because of the Easter holiday, we’ve got two weeks of events to look at on our Golden Bear calendar. Tonight is the final performance of the spring play. Curtain time is 7pm in Friedmann Auditorium.

Tomorrow many Garrigan students will be busy with the packaging day for Parish Families Against Hunger. Monday is the All-State Speech Festival, and Tuesday is the Algona Early Bird girls track meet. The quiz bowl team will compete in the 3—2—1 competition that afternoon.

Wednesday there’s the CYO track meet in Storm Lake. That night the junior class will have a retreat. Thursday we’ll have our Morning of Reflection, with an early dismissal that day.

There are no school activities scheduled over Easter break. School starts again on Tuesday, April 7. There’s girls track that night at Clear Lake, and the boys golf team hosts Estherville.

On Wednesday the 8th the quiz bowl team will compete in the Think Fast competition, a virtual event hosted by Iowa State University. Tryouts for next year’s danz squad are also that night.

Next Friday the boys golf team hosts Spencer and the boys track team runs at Clarion. Also that night is the preview party for Gala 2015.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for March. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday, but be sure to join us again two weeks from today. Until then … Happy Easter from everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School!