Bear Facts ~ February 1, 2024

Good morning! I’m Violet Bode!

I’m Abbie Capesius!

I’m Brendan Plathe!

And I’m Ben Greteman! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio update from Bishop Garrigan High School.

This past week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week at Garrigan. On Wednesday there was a special community celebration where, among other things, we honored some of the staff who have been with us for many years. Among those is the longest-serving current teacher in the system, Karen McGregor. Mrs. McGregor has been working with lower elementary students at Seton for the past 45 years.
 

Several other classroom teachers are celebrating landmark anniversaries this year. Rob and Wendi Meister have been in the Garrigan system for 25 years. This is also Michaela Creighton’s tenth year in our school, and Antonia Rupert and Jared Montag have both been at Garrigan five years now. Other staff members celebrating milestones are Lance Ludwig, Tyler Tiffany, Tricia Carlson, Samantha Frideres, Holly Kollasch, Eric Degen, and Vickie Roethler. Thanks to all of them for their many years of service.


This afternoon seven Garrigan students are competing at the state large group speech contest over in Spencer. Shortly after 1pm Thadd Kollasch and Tate Foertsch will be presenting their pre-recorded radio broadcasting selection. Then around 3pm Violet Bode, Brendan Plathe, Benjy Trainer, and Sam Plathe will compete in group improvisation. The Bears final entry is in musical theatre, where Sam Plathe, Izzy Waechter, and Benjy Trainer will sing “Good Morning” from Singin’ in the Rain.

Tomorrow the state champion Golden Bear danz squad will be presenting their annual spring show. In addition to their award-winning pom routine, they’ll present other dances they learned at camps, as well as the coed and friends routines and special dances they’ve taught to little girls at a clinic. The show will be at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, so be sure to see the danz squad spring show.

Monday there’s more competition, as the Bishop Garrigan jazz choir travels to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake for the state jazz contest. This year’s jazz choir includes Sacha Alesch, Benjy Trainer, Kyle Bormann, Zoe Montag, Ava Hough, and Amaury Thomas. Also singing jazz are Sam Plathe, Violet Bode, Shiloh Trainer, Tate Foertsch, Gabe Swift, Madelyn Bronk, Brendan Plathe, Logan Nemmers, Cora Deaerdueff, Lauren Swift, and Matt Besch. Best wishes, jazz choir!

Many of the jazz choir singers will be turning around on Tuesday and joining some other Garrigan students for a mission trip to Mississippi. The students will be going to missions run by Franciscan sisters in Morton and Okolona that Garrigan has supported for the past decade. The group of seniors heading to Mississippi includes Violet Bode, Zach Warren, Benjy Trainer, Madelyn Bronk, Nathaniel Darling, Lauren Swift, and Kyra Deike—plus Ava Hough, Ella Schaaf, Sam Plathe, Ethan Kuper, Brendan Plathe, Avery Lichter, and Nick Laubenthal.

Basketball playoffs are just around the corner. While a lot of people thought this might be a down year for the Golden Bear girls, they’ve wrapped up another Top of Iowa Conference crown, and the girls are looking to make their way through regionals and on to another state appearance. Regional basketball starts next Thursday night, and the Bears should be hosting the first round.

At the core of the Golden Bear team has been senior guard Abbie Capesius. Abbie has been a rebounding machine all season long, and she’s also consistently scored in double digits for the Bears. At post for the Bears is freshman Graclyn Eastman, who has surprised a lot of fans by how well she’s taken over for Iowa State star Audi Crooks. The Bears have also had a great outside game, with Zoe Montag, Emmi Bartolo, and Alyssa Haugland all draining threes.
 

Other key players for the Bears are senior Reagan Murphy and sophomore Sacha Alesch. The varsity squad also features Alaina Casey, Reese Kemna, Carley Nielsen, Ava Roethler, and Haley Nemmers. Good luck all through playoffs to Coach Brandon Schwab and the Golden Bear girls.

The boys also begin their post-season next week, with districts starting Friday night. The Golden Bear boys feature a lot of height—like 6’5” senior Logan Nemmers, 6’6” junior Nick Leerar, 6’4” junior Drew Muller, and 6’4” sophomore Amaury Thomas. Sophomore Carter Schwab and freshman Mike Joyce have been the Bears’ top scorers, and senior Justin Bauer and junior Trayton Cink have played tough defense all season long. Rounding out the varsity squad are Ben Greteman, Tate Foertsch, and Daniel Meis. Good luck in districts to Coach Mark Meister and the Golden Bear boys!

The Iowa Football Coaches Association recently announced its annual awards, and that brought good news for Garrigan head coach Marty Wadle. He was named Class 8-Man Coach of the Year, and he was the only honoree in any class to come from northwest Iowa. Congratulations, Coach Wadle!
Because we’ve had lots of other news, we’re skipping our Senior Spotlight this week. On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s state large group speech contest today in Spencer. The district swim meet is also today.

Tomorrow the danz squad will have their spring show. The action starts at 2pm in the Garrigan gym. Then Monday there’s the state vocal jazz contest at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake.

Also Monday night the Bears have a basketball quad with North Iowa in Buffalo Center. There’s also a pre-kindergarten open house at Seton Monday night.

We’ll begin the day Tuesday with a student mass. A large group of seniors will leave on the service trip to Mississippi after mass.

We’ll have parent—teacher conferences after school on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday night the Bears will be hosting the first round of regional playoffs.

There’s no school next Friday. That night the boys begin district action, and there’s also state swimming in Iowa City next weekend.
 

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