THE BEAR FACTS
November 12, 2022


Good morning! I’m Avery Berte!
 

I’m Eva Snyder!

And I’m Savannah Waechter! Thanks for joining us for the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.

Last Saturday Garrigan hosted the Top of Iowa Conference quiz bowl tournament, and it was a good day for the Bears. The team of Garrett Heying, Ben Greteman, Sam Plathe, Benjy Trainer, and Brendan Plathe was undefeated in preliminary competition. They continued into playoffs and finished second in the conference. Their only loss was to the conference champions from Mason City Newman. Congratulations to the conference runners-up!

There’s more quiz bowl action today. The Bears are heading across town for the Algona High tournament, which is back after two years off during COVID. Garrigan has four teams entered today, and sixteen Golden Bears will be competing. Students competing include juniors Brendan Plathe, Benjy Trainer, Sam Plathe, Ben Greteman, Violet Bode, Ella Schaaf, Nick Laubenthal, Avery Lichter, and Kyra Deike.


Others competing today are sophomores Molly Peterson, Alaina Bormann, Brooke Ludwig, Thadd Kollasch, and Sam Greteman; plus freshmen Tate Foertsch and Kayden Graves. The games begin at 9am at Algona High. Good luck, Golden Bear quiz bowl!

This coming week the Iowa High School Music Association will hold the All-State Music Festival at Iowa State University. Three Garrigan students will be part of the all-state choir. Senior Nate Bronk and junior Benjy Trainer were selected as tenors, and sophomore Izzy Waechter made all-state as a soprano. The festival starts on Thursday, with the concert Saturday night. The concert will be broadcast on Iowa Public Television over Thanksgiving weekend. Congratulations, all-staters!

This past week Garrigan’s jazz choir, Viva Voce, began rehearsals for the new competition season. Eighteen students are part of this year’s jazz choir. They include sopranos Ava Hough, Eva Snyder, Isabella Waechter, and Savannah Waechter; mezzo-soprano Madelyn Bronk; and altos Violet Bode, Audi Crooks, Lauren Swift, and Maggie Vaske.

The boys in jazz choir include tenors Benjy Trainer, Nate Bronk, Brendan Plathe, and Tate Foertsch; baritone Logan Nemmers; and basses Drew Casey, Nathaniel Darling, Sam Plathe, and Amaury Thomas. Congratulations to everyone who was selected for Viva Voce!

Last Wednesday two Garrigan seniors made major steps toward the future of their athletic careers. State basketball champions Molly Joyce and Audi Crooks officially signed to play college ball. Molly will be playing for the Bulldogs at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, while Audi will play for the Iowa State Cyclones.



The signings come just as the girls basketball team starts practices for the coming season. The girls will begin their season with a trip up to Mendota, Minnesota, where they’ll be part of the Twin Cities Thanksgiving Invite. The Bears will take on Providence Academy and the large suburban high school from Hopkins. After Thanksgiving, they’ll start conference play by traveling to Belmond—Klemme. Good luck all season, Golden Bear girls basketball!

Garrigan’s SAFE group recently completed a survey on seat belt use and distracted driving among our students. They found that more than 94% of the Golden Bears wore seat belts and only about 2% were distracted by phone calls or texts. The results are better than most Iowa schools, though of course we’re continuing to work for 100% seat belt use and 0% distraction.

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Joey Doerning. Here to tell you about her is Drew Casey.

If you listen to the “Bear Facts” regularly, you’ve probably heard Joey Doerning announcing on our show. She’s a Bancroft native who is probably best known as catcher on the Golden Bear softball team. Joey was also a drum major for the Solid Gold Marching Band. She also enjoys choir, and she’s been in lots of drama productions throughout high school. Next year Joey plans to major in computer science at Iowa State, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks, Drew. On our Golden Bear calendar there’s quiz bowl today at Algona High. Tomorrow the freshmen have a confirmation retreat, and there’s also the St. Cecelia fall dinner.

The Top of Iowa Conference will hold its honor choir on Monday, and that night boys basketball practice begins. We’ll have a school mass on Tuesday morning.

Next Thursday the school board meets. That’s also when the All-State Music Festival begins in Ames. All-State continues until the festival concert Saturday night.

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.