THE BEAR FACTS
January 8, 2022


Good morning! I’m Emma Grandgenett!

I’m Annie Burns!

And I’m Eva Snyder! Happy New Year from the “Bear Facts” and everyone here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

The Golden Bear girls basketball team continues to rock the competition. Last Tuesday they reached a milestone, with their thirtieth consecutive conference win. That happened when the Bears breezed past Forest City, a rated team in Class 3-A, by a score of 74 – 53. So far this season junior Audi Crooks has been averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds per game. Junior Molly Joyce and sophomore Abbie Capesius have also consistently scored in double digits, senior Meredith Tigges has racked up 62 rebounds on the season, and senior Emma Grandgenett has 24 assists.

The Bears expect to do well in the rest of their regular season schedule. They’ll play Belmond Klemme and Eagle Grove next week. Then they’ll play most of the conference teams again before playing Dike—New Hartford February 8. The Bears should host most of the regional playoffs, and their goal is heading back to state, where this time they’d like to win it all. Good luck, girls!

For years now Garrigan students have helped the needy families at Divine Mercy’s sister parish, St. Jeanne de Chantal in Haiti. In recent years we’ve raised money to buy animals that provide an ongoing food source for that community. Before Christmas we had a special fundraiser that brought in more than $10,000, which should buy about 35 cows to help the people in Chantal.

Rehearsals have started for the BGHS spring play. This year’s show is called Acting Can Be Murder, and it will be presented March 18th and 19th. The main character will be played by Marguerite Fakler, and other key actors include Drew Casey, Ava Eisenbarth, Isabel Casey, Eva Snyder, and Spencer Doerning. The cast also features Joey Doerning, Savannah Waechter, Meredith Tigges, Meredith Illg, Nate Bronk, Maggie Vaske, Sam Plathe, Benjy Trainer, and Brendan Plathe.

Eighteen other students will have minor rolls in the play, and director Carol Eischeid is also counting on a huge number of people helping out behind the scenes. Be sure to mark your calendar for Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, to see Acting Can Be Murder, the 2022 Bishop Garrigan spring play.

Rehearsals are also underway for large-group speech. This year’s entries include the one-act play Bedtime Stories, which features Ava Eisenbarth, Brendan Plathe, Garrett Heying, Isaac DeLange, Marguerite Fakler, Meredith Tigges, Mya Kemna and Riley Rosenmeyer. Garrigan will also present the readers’ theatre Uncool, with Audi Crooks, Ella Muller, Ella Schaaf, Isabel Casey, Katelyn Cink, Molly Peterson, Scott Bormann, Thadd Kollasch, and Violet Bode.

The choral reading And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street stars Annie Burns, Brendan Plathe, Ella Muller, Isabel Casey, Maryanne Capesius, Meredith Illg, Scott Bormann, and Veronica Capesius. In ensemble acting Riley Rosenmeyer, Ava Eisenbarth, Marguerite Fakler, and Meredith Illg are starring in We Need a Man.

There should be two improvisation groups, including Audi Crooks, Benjy Trainer, Meredith Tigges, Mya Kemna, Violet Bode, Isaac DeLange, and Thadd Kollasch. District contest will be January 22nd at Manson. Best wishes, speech!

Today five Garrigan students are over in Mason City for the NCIB high school honor band. Those being honored include senior Xander Darling, junior Savannah Waechter, sophomore Lauren Swift, and freshmen Molly Peterson and Alaina Bormann. The event is at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City. Congratulations, band honorees!

This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on Mya Kemna. Here to tell you about her is Garrett Heying.
 

We’ve already mentioned Mya Kemna twice for her involvement in group speech. She’s also a DECA co-president, and over the year’s she’s been involved in track, volleyball, and basketball. She plans to go to Iowa next year, where she’d like to double-major in English and business. We wish Mya all the best in the future.

Thanks, Garrett. On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s honor band today in Mason City. Then next Tuesday there’s a basketball quad at Belmond—with JJV boys, JV boys, and varsity girls and boys.

Semester tests will be next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. There’s a special schedule, and we’ll have open campus whenever we don’t have tests. Finally on Thursday there’s more basketball, with the Bears playing at Eagle Grove.

That’s our first “Bear Facts” for 2022. Thanks for tuning in, and be sure to join us again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.