THE BEAR FACTS
December 10, 2022

 Good morning! I’m Garrett Heying!

 I’m Avery Berte!

 And I’m Ella Schaaf! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

 This past week the Iowa Football Coaches Association announced the newest inductees to its hall of fame. We’re proud that Golden Bear head coach Marty Wadle is part of that group. Coach Wadle has been at Garrigan for thirty-one years, and his football history goes back to playing the game for Dowling Catholic in high school. He’s led more Garrigan teams to state than any other coach, and we’re proud that Coach Wadle is getting statewide recognition in the football coaches hall of fame.

 The Iowa Football Coaches Association is also responsible for selecting academic all-state honorees. This award goes to senior starters who have at least at least a 3.7 grade point average and are involved in numerous other activities. This year two Golden Bears were academic all-staters. Congratulations to Garrett Heying and Cal Birkey.

 One other Golden Bear athlete made news this past week. When the Golden Bear girls racked up a victory at Lake Mills on Tuesday, senior Audi Crooks grabbed her 1,000th career rebound. Audi also holds the career and season rebound records at Garrigan, and she’s on track to pass the all-time scoring record. Congratulations, Audi!
 Rehearsals have begun for the 2023 speech season. This year Garrigan students will be performing a one-act play, a readers theatre, a musical theatre, and three group improvisations. For Musical Theatre Savannah Waechter and Isabella Waechter will be performing the song “Stepsisters Lament” from the Rogers and Hammerstein version of Cinderella.

 Garrigan’s one-act is called The Great Pandemonium. In the play Garrett Heying stars as a high school drama director who is struggling to put on a play with a less than motivated cast and crew. The play also features Sam Plathe as the leading actor, Griffin Geving as the light and sound technician, Brendan Plathe as the school principal, Eva Snyder as a first-time actress, and Avery Berte as a cheerleader who’s filling in for her boyfriend. Others in the one-act are Thadd Kollasch, Ella Schaaf, Tate Foertsch, Ethan Marso, and Ava Roethler.

 The readers theatre production is called A Guide to the Teenage Zone. It’s a comedy that follows a day in the life of typical high school students. Avery Berte is the “guide” who leads the audience through the show. Kids with widely different personalities are portrayed by Ava Hough, Lauren Swift, Molly Peterson, Haley Nemmers, and Gavin Swift; as well as Brooke Ludwig, Violet Bode, Ella Schaaf, Audi Crooks, Scott Bormann, Benjy Trainer, and Thadd Kollasch. Others in the cast are Sacha Alesch and Aubrey Meyer, who portray high school teachers.

 The other speech entries are in group improvisation, a category where performers are given a situation and need to act out a scene on the spot, with minimal preparation. This year’s improv groups feature Audi Crooks, Violet Bode, Sam Plathe, Brendan Pllathe, Benjy Trainer, Sacha Alesch Aubrey Meyer, Ava Roethler, Gavin Swift, Scott Bormann, Tate Foertsch, and Ethan Marso. District large group speech contest will be Saturday, January 21st, most likely at Manson. Best wishes to all the performers as they prepare, and also to coaches David Burrow and Maureen Meis.


 Christmas is just a couple weeks away, and that means it’s time for holiday concerts. Next Wednesday the band will hold their annual Christmas concert. The program features all the band members, from fifth grade through high school. The following week will be the choir concert, which will include junior high and high school choirs. We invite everyone to enjoy to music of the Christmas season at Garrigan.

 Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Ali Lallier. Here to tell you about here is Reagan Murphy.

 Ali Lallier is probably best known for her accomplishments in music and drama. She especially enjoyed her role in The Wizard of Oz last month, where she was able to sing and dance with her friends. Ali works hard in her classes. After high school she plans to attend DMACC and then transfer to Iowa State. In the future she’d like to work in early childhood education. We wish Ali all the best in her future.

 On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s wrestling today at Ogden, and tonight the Garrigan faculty and staff will have their Christmas party. Tomorrow is the third Sunday of Advent.

 We’ll have an Advent prayer service to begin the day on Monday. Monday night the Bears are scheduled to make up their basketball quad at Belmond—Klemme, which was snowed out right after Thanksgiving. There’s also wrestling at Clarion that night.

 Tuesday Garrigan students will have the sacrament of reconciliation. That night there’s basketball, with the Bears traveling to Garner. Then on Wednesday night there’s the Christmas band concert.

 The school board meets on Thursday, and there’s wrestling at Hampton that night. Friday there’s wrestling at Spencer, and then next Saturday we’ll travel across town for the annual holiday basketball classic with Algona High.
 

 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.