The Bear Facts

September 22, 2018

Good morning! I’m Jordan Hansen!

I’m Bryce Capesius!

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

Last Wednesday at our school mass six Garrigan seniors were installed as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Gabe Trainer, Megan Bronk, John Capesius, John Meis, Lauren Kenyon, and Bryce Capesius all went through training to be Eucahristic ministers. They will now serve communion at school masses and also help out in their home parishes. Staff members Christy Peterson and John and Beth Byrkeland were also commissioned this past week. Congratulations to all the Eucharistic ministers on taking another step in their faith.

Today the Golden Bear volleyball team is hosting their home tournament. Teams from all over the area will be at school today, playing in both the old and new gyms. The Bears lost a very close match on Tuesday, when they went to five games against North Iowa. They’re hoping to return to their winning ways as they face a range of area schools today. Good luck, volleyball!

This coming week is a busy one for Garrigan’s sophomore class. Next Sunday at 10:45am, most of our sophomores will receive the sacrament of confirmation and become full members of the Catholic church. They’ve been preparing for a full year, and there’s a special retreat tomorrow morning as one last preparation for confirmation. Bishop R. Walker Nickless will be on hand at St. Cecelia’s next Sunday for the event. Happy confirmation, sophomores!

Next Friday will be a big day for Garrigan’s freshman class. They’re heading up to the Twin Cities to spend the day at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. This is an annual field trip, and it’s a fun way for the freshmen to learn more about art, English, history, and music. We know they’ll have a fun day at the renaissance fair.

The BGHS music and drama departments have been working hard to prepare for the 2018 fall musical. This year we’ll be presenting All Shook Up, a modern jukebox musical that features the music of Elvis Presley. The show will be November 10 and 11, but the cast is already working hard to learn the music and lines.

The bulk of the cast is seniors, including Emma Thul, Sam Vaske, Aidan Koob, Eric Thul, Layah DeLange, Gabe Trainer, and Logan Heying. Juniors Jordan Hansen and Amanda Miller are also featured in the show. Drama director Carol Eischeid and choir director David Fog are in charge of things. It should be a great show, so be sure to mark your calendar for November 10 and 11 to see All Shook Up.

Ten Garrigan students are also keeping busy this fall preparing for all-state music auditions. Auditions are less than a month away to be part of the exclusive group that performs at the All-State Music Festival. Auditioning for the Garrigan choir will be Megan Bronk, Gabe Trainer, Bryce Capesius, Layah DeLange, Emma Thul, Noah Bronk, Joey Trainer, and Xander Darling. Meanwhile Jordan Hansen and Sami Darling are auditioning to be part of the all-state band. Good luck to these students as they prepare for all-state!

We just wrapped up the annual Bishop Garrigan calendar drive, and once again it was a big success. The money from calendars goes to help our transportation budget. Over the years we’ve updated many buses and suburbans to take people to sports and other competitions and also to carry students who live outside the Algona school district to school at Garrigan. If you didn’t get a chance to buy a calendar, be sure to contact the Garrigan development office. And to everyone who did help out with the calendar drive, thanks a lot for your support!

ur Senior Spotlight this week shines on Emma Thul. Here to tell you about her is Aidan Connor Koob.

Emma Thul was our Homecoming queen for 2018. She’s keeps busy with lots of different activities. Emma is a cheerleader for both football and basketball, she’s on student council, she runs track, she’s in Christian Leadership, and she’s active in drama, speech, choir, and band. Away from school you might see her working over in Whittemore, either at Cenex or at the pool. Emma will be off to college next year, and we wish her all the best in the future.

Thanks, Aidan! On our Golden Bear calendar today the volleyball team is hosting their home tournament at Bishop Garrigan. The action starts just a few minutes from now at 9:00.

Tomorrow morning there’s a retreat to prepare for confirmation. Then on Monday the cross-country team runs in the closest thing they have to a home meet. They’ll be at River Road for the Algona Invitational.

Also on Monday the JV football team will play at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond. Tuesday we’ll be heading over to Algona High for a special assembly on narcotics. That night the volleyball team hosts Forest City.

There’s a school mass on Wednesday morning, and we’ll dismiss early that afternoon for staff development. Then on Friday the freshmen travel to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

Friday night the varsity football team has another tough game as they host Belmond—Klemme. Then next Saturday it’s Algona Band Day.

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.