The Bear Facts
October 1, 2016
Good morning! I'm Tommy Kollasch
I’m Laurel Degen!
And I’m Gabe Trainer! This is the “Bear Facts”. Happy October from everyone here
at Bishop Garrigan High School.
Tomorrow Garrigan’s sophomores will be undergoing the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Bishop Walker Nickless will be on hand at the 10:30 mass at St. Cecelia’s, and
he’ll be presiding over the confirmation ceremony. The sophomores spent last
year in religion class preparing for confirmation, and tomorrow they’ll be
installed as full members of the Catholic church. Congratulations, sophomores!
Today is Algona Band Day, and once again Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band
will be competing in both the parade and field competitions. The parade will
start at 1:00 this afternoon, and the field competition is at 6pm at Algona
High. This year Garrigan’s field performance contrasts old and new styles of
marching. Good luck to directors Ken Ferjak and Katherine Simpson and the entire
Solid Gold Marching Band!
Quiz Bowl season begins today. Five Golden Bears got up early this morning to
head down to Waukee for the NAQT Fall Novice Tournament. Competing for the Bears
today are seniors Mark Mather and Levi Capesius, juniors Ben Degen and Tommy
Kollasch, and sophomore Bryce Capesius. Good luck to Coach David Burrow and the
quiz bowl team!
Next Wednesday Garrigan will be hosting the annual Catholic Choral Festival for
the Sioux City Diocese. Students will be coming from Carroll, LeMars, Fort
Dodge, Storm Lake, Remsen, and Sioux City. They’ll rehearse together throughout
the day, and at 7:00 Wednesday night they’ll be performing a concert for the
public in Friedmann Auditorium. Everyone is welcome to watch the Catholic Choral
Festival concert.
Also on Wednesday the student council will be doing their semi-annual
adopt-a-highway project. Garrigan has helped clean up the stretch of highway 18
by Sexton ever since 1992, and they’ve twice been honored by the state of Iowa
for their volunteer efforts. They’ll be busy on Wednesday afternoon doing the
latest round of picking up trash along the highway.
Since 1883 Catholics have celebrated October as the special month of the rosary.
We’ll be joining in that celebration at Garrigan with a series of special
rosaries each Friday throughout the month. Students will help lead the rosaries,
starting next Friday, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory. It’s another of the ways
we join together to celebrate our faith at school.
There are some new classes available at Garrigan this fall. One of them is a
guitar class. The course is being taught by Greg Ahlers, who mostly teaches
science courses, but is a very talented guitarist himself. The students showed
off their talent by providing the accompaniment at our student mass last
Wednesday. Students taking guitar include Levi Capesius, Isabelle Davis, Rebecca
Bonstetter, Chase Winkel, Will Fox, Alex Lichter, Tommy Kollasch, and Alex
Lichter.
Something we’ve noticed through the fall at Garrigan is the ongoing construction
on the new baseball dugouts. The old dugouts had been around for decades, and
they featured rotting wood and peeling shingles. They’re being replaced by new
structures that are larger, stronger, and include more features to help the
athletes. We’re looking forward to seeing them in use next summer.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Sarah Skilling. Here to tell you about
her is John Meis.
Sarah Skilling is a Burt native whose biggest activity is dance. She’s won both
individual and team state championships, and she also works as a dance teacher.
She’s an honor student, and she’s also been involved in cheerleading and drama,
where she helps out behind the scenes. Sarah plans to study dance and human
health and physiology in college, and she’d like a career as a professional
dancer. We wish Sarah all the best in the future.
Thanks, John. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s quiz bowl today in
Waukee. It’s also Algona Band Day. Garrigan will be marching in the parade at
1pm and competing on the Algona High field at 6pm.
Tomorrow at the 10:30 mass at St. Cecelia’s the sophomores will be confirmed.
Then on Monday there’s JV football, with the Bears hosting Webster City.
Tuesday we’ll have the awards assembly from the recent calendar drive. That
night the cross-country team runs at Eagle Grove and the volleyball team plays
at Britt.
We’ll have a student mass on Wednesday. The student council will do
adopt-a-highway in the afternoon, and Garrigan hosts the Catholic Choral
Festival that day. The festival concert is at 7pm in Friedmann Audtiorium.
There’s an eighth grade retreat on Thursday. Finally next Friday the football
team travels to Holstein to play Ridge View.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for another week. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to
catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
BJB 9/28/16