Bear Facts August 3rd, 2015



 Good morning! I’m Devin Degen!

 I’m Andrew Lallier!

 And I’m James Quinlin! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where each week we bring you the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

 Number one. After their decisive victory over Belmond—Klemme last Friday, that’s where the Golden Bear football team ended up in the Associated Press Class A rankings released on Monday. Other polls had the Bears at #2 or #3, so pretty much everyone agrees that this year’s Garrigan football team is among the best in the state. While the Bears are a perennial force in football, this is the first time any poll has ranked them #1 in the 21st Century.

 Going into this weekend the Bears were the only undefeated team in Class A, Division 3—a division that included three of the top ten teams in the state. Their toughest games so far have been at Pocahontas and last week’s very physical match-up in Belmond. While the #1 ranking is cool, we know there’s still a long way to go until the end of the season. This year’s Golden Bears have really played well, though, and we wish good luck to Coach Wadle and the team all season long.




 Today is Algona Band Day. While the event started eleven years before Garrigan even opened, for as long as our school has been around the Solid Gold Marching Band has been part of the band day competition. While the band lost nearly a third of its size when last year’s seniors graduated, the twenty-eight of this year’s band have been working hard and are hoping to their best in competition today.
 The show director Ken Ferjak has prepared is called “One Hit Wonders” and features four classic rock songs. The show is choreographed by assistant director Katherine Simpson. Mariah Bronk is drum major for the band, She’s one of just three seniors in this year’s band, the others being Logan Besch and Johanna Vaske. The parade begins at 1:00 this afternoon, and Garrigan will be #9 among the bands marching. At night they’ll be the second band in the field competition, taking the field at 5:15pm. Good luck, band!
 Last Friday the freshman class and several other art students went up to the Twin Cities for a field trip to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. The trip is partly in preparation for the 2015 madrigal, which will be November 7 and 8. Jedd Magill and Carolyn Baxter will star as the king and queen at madrigal, and Levi Capesius will be the jester. Seniors James Quinlin, Johanna Vaske, Steve McCall, and Mariah Bronk are also key members of the cast. We’ll be telling you more about madrigal in the coming weeks.

 Tomorrow Bishop Walker Nickless will be in Algona to confirm sophomores from around the area as full members of the Catholic Church. Garrigan sophomores have been preparing for confirmation for a full year. Students from all the area parishes will be confirmed at St. Cecelia’s tomorrow at the 10:30 mass. Congratulations, sophomores!



 Next week a special statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be coming to the Sioux City Diocese. The statue will be at St. Cecelia’s in Algona on Thursday and at St. Michael’s in Whittemore on Friday. Students and staff members from Garrigan and Seton will be having special prayer services as they venerate the statue.

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Joseph Espinosa. Here to tell you about him is Michael Condoleon.

 Though he’s fairly small in stature, Joseph Espinosa has been a big part of the Class of 2016. Josefe has been in quiz bowl all through school, and he traveled to Washington D.C. for national quiz bowl last summer. He’s also been part of the World Food Prize Institute, and he’s competed in speech and the Envirothon. Joseph is also a student council member, and you’ve probably heard him announcing on the “Bear Facts”. He’d like to major in science at college, and we wish him all the best in the future.

 Thanks, Mikes. On our Golden Bear calendar, today is Algona Band Day. The parade starts at 1:00, and Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band will take part in the field competition at 5:15 at Algona High.

 Tomorrow is confirmation for the sophomores, and it’s also the start of National Fire Prevention Week. Then on Monday the JV football team hosts West Hancock.

 Tuesday the volleyball team is at home against West Hancock. Also that night there’s cross-country, with the team running at Eagle Grove. Wednesday is Catholic Choral Day, with the Garrigan choir traveling to Carroll Kuemper.

 Also on Wednesday student council will be doing their semi-annual adopt-a-highway project in Sexton. There’s also a student mass that morning for the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

 Next Thursday afternoon high school students will be seeing the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Then on Friday the football team will host Lake Mills.

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