The Bear Facts
April 2, 2022


Good morning! I’m Eva Snyder!

I’m Garrett Heying!

And I’m Marguerite Fakler! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the radio show where we keep you up to date on all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Tonight is Gala 2022. Gala is the biggest fundraiser Garrigan and Seton have each year. For the past two years the event was moved online because of the pandemic. It’s back in person for 2022, though, and we hope the “Masterpiece Ball” will both a fun evening and a great source of income for the school.

One of the biggest parts of Gala each year is an elegant catered meal. This year guests will begin their night with appetizers such as honey roasted cherry tomato bruschetta, smoked salmon deviled eggs, and smoked sausage pâte a choux. Then the main meal will begin with roasted carrot and cashew soup with crème fraiche.

The salad is tender greens with caramelized basil vinaigrette and grapefruit. Then for the entrée guests will enjoy tenderloin of beef with mushroom madeira sauce, garlic red jacket potatoes, and parmesan roasted green beans. Finally for dessert there’s chocolate red berry entremet. The delicious dinner should be the center of a wonderful evening.

There are all kinds of fun and exciting parts to Gala. There’s a “Heads or Tails” game, where players can win $500, the “Half Chance” game where players buy a card that could be worth $130, a “Mystery Envelope” game with a $1,000 grand prize, plus the “Chest of Chance”, “First Chance”, car raffle, rec raffle, dream raffle, and “Last Chance” games.

The focus of Gala each year is the auctions. There’s a live auction with more than 60 items valued from $500 to $6,000, plus some that are truly priceless. There’s also an online silent auction, with hundreds of items that both in-person guests and people at home can bid on. There’s also a special “Cash for Classrooms” item, where people can contribute to improve technology in the classrooms. Finally there’s “Pick Your Passion”, with more than 100 specific things teachers want for their classes and activities.

Over the years Gala has brought in more than seven and a half million dollars to help support the school. The very first Gala back in 1990 brought in $85,000, and the record income back before the pandemic was $410,000. Nearly half of the high school students will be helping out at Gala as waiters, spotters, parking valets, and other assistants, and more than a hundred adults are also helping out behind the scenes. We hope their work will make the “Masterpiece Ball” Gala 2022 a huge success.

 Last week we told you about the Golden Bear golf and track teams. They’re not the only spring athletes, though. Thanks to the cooperation of area organizations, many Garrigan students also participate in target sports. There are eleven students who are part of the Izaak Walton League’s trapshooting program. They include Devan Becker, Josh Bernhard, Connor Davis, Matt Kollasch, Caleb Bormann, and Sam Bohan; plus Wyatt Rosenmeyer, Nick Thul, Andrew Lichter, Scott Bormann, and Blaire Becker.

There’s also an archery team, and seven Golden Bears are involved with that. Students in archery include Caleb Bormann, Joey Doerning, Eli Ricke, Nathaniel Darling, Alaina Bormann, Spencer Doerning, and Scott Bormann. Good luck to everyone involved in archery and trapshooting!

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Annie Burns. Here with the scoop on her is Riley Rosenmeyer.

Annie Burns’ biggest activity is golf, and she’s hoping to lead the Bears to a third straight state championship this spring. She was also one of the top individual golfers at last year’s state meet. Annie is also involved in group speech, she volunteers as a Eucharistic minister, and she’s one of the team leaders for the Gala waitstaff tonight. She’s also one of the people who cheers the loudest at almost every Golden Bear activity. Annie will be off to college next fall, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks, Riley. Tonight is Gala 2022. There’s a mass for workers at 4pm, doors open to guests at 5:30, and the main event starts at 7:00 tonight.

The golf team is set to begin competition on Monday. The boys have a meet down in Humboldt, and the girls will playing Spencer at home. Then on Tuesday there’s a coed golf meet at West Hancock in Britt.

 There will be a student mass Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night the girls track team will run at Clear Lake. Then on Wednesday the danz squad will have tryouts for their 2022-23 team.

Also Wednesday night elementary students from kindergarten prep through grade 2 will have their spring concert. Thursday there’s a girls track meet at Eagle Grove.

Friday the boys track team runs at Clarion. Also that night there’s coed at home. Finally next Saturday the band and choir will have state solo and ensemble contest.

Finally this week we want to express our sympathy to Garrigan girls basketball coach Brandon Schwab, whose father died this past week. The funeral is this morning, and we want Coach Schwab and his sons Carter and Colin to know we’re there for them.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.