The Bear Facts
March 23, 2013
Good morning! I’m Allison Frideres!
And I’m Grace Steil! You’re listening to the “Bear Facts”. Thanks for joining us to hear all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
This has been a really weird week at school. The strangest day was Tuesday, when a vague bomb threat was issued for schools in Algona. While many news reports said that only the public elementary schools were affected, law enforcement officials asked both Garrigan and Seton to evacuate as well—and, of course, we complied. In the middle of fourth period we got the message, so we left our book bags and other materials at school and boarded buses. This was something totally new for us. Even teachers who have been at Garrigan for more than thirty years had never experienced anything like it.
Law enforcement officers commented on how smoothly our evacuation went. The school’s emergency plan includes multiple evacuation sites. Those locations were purposely not announced by either the schools or the police, since in a real emergency we wouldn’t want criminals to know where all the kids were. While we technically weren’t supposed to, just about everyone texted their families to let them know where we were and that everyone was OK. It got kind of boring just waiting around, and a lot of people grumbled about missing lunch. Fortunately, though, everyone was safe throughout the day.
The police started their search with the public elementary schools. When those had been cleared, they moved on to Seton, and only by mid-afternoon did they go through Garrigan. When it became clear that we’d be unable to return to school until almost the end of the school day, the decision was made to dismiss for the day around 1:30pm. Most students drove themselves home, parents picked up some others, and a few had to make arrangements for rides. It was certainly a weird day, but we’re glad there was no actual danger and that the school emergency plan worked pretty much as intended.
This weekend the Golden Bear danz squad is down in Ft. Worth, Texas, where they’re competing at nationals. The Bears main entry is their state champion kick routine, which includes Japanese costumes. The girls left Wednesday. They began competition yesterday and will be finishing up today. Good luck, danz squad!
Last weekend students from both Garrigan and Algona High participated in the state conference for HOSA, the Health Occupations Students of America. Garrigan’s Alissa Kirsch finished in first place in the Home Health Aide competition, third place in Researched Persuasive Speaking, and was awarded the Barbara James Service Award. Noelle Vitzthum placed third in Nursing Assisting and fifth in Health Issues.
A group including Kendra Roethler and Noelle Vitzthum, as well as Chyenna Julius from AHS took first place in Biomedical Debate, and Mrs. Jeanne Wunder won an award for Advisor of the Year. The students now advance to the annual HOSA National Leadership Conference, which will be held June 26 – 29 in Nashville, Tennessee. Congratulations, HOSA!
Also last week thirteen Garrigan students went down to Des Moines to compete in the annual Envirothon. Biology teacher Beany Bode organized the team, which took tests on various topics in environmental science. Representing Garrigan this year were Brayton Loss, Dillon Walker, David Klein, Nathan Krieps, Connor Garman, Neal Koob, and Jordan Steburg; as well as Sophia Kaduce, Jonathan Berte, Charlie Thilges, Savannah McNertney, Jason Reding, and John Burns.
After about two months off, the quiz bowl team is back in action today with a tournament at Alta—Aurelia. The Bears have two teams competing today. Players include seniors Allison Frideres and Grace Steil; juniors Jake Hamilton and Levi Bernhard; sophomores Hannah Bernhard, Mark Fakler, Zach Kollasch, Tony Kollasch, Taylor Illg, and exchange student Sia; and freshmen Devin Degen and Joseph Espinosa. Good luck, quiz bowl!
Every spring Garrigan seniors are chosen to be role models for the DARE program at Seton. This year thirteen seniors are DARE role models. Elliot Boisjolie, Melissa Kellner, Aubrie Meyers, Dustin Miller, Thomas Bradley, Alissa Kirsch, and Logan Kumm are among this year’s role models, as are Hannah Boisjolie, Andrew McGuire, Victor Berte, Chelsi Lanus, Erin Reedy, and Erica Carlson. Congratulations, DARE role models!
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Joseph Skilling and Seaerra Poole. Joseph Skilling stands out to our seniors because he led the hike at the senior retreat earlier this winter. His main activity is intramural basketball, and you’ll see him at different Golden Bear events cheering on his friends. Joseph has worked with the school website, and you may have seen him working at KFC. He’ll be a college man next year, and we wish him all the best.
Unlike most of her classmates, Seaerra Poole came to Garrigan recently instead of going here her whole life. She was also a leader for the hike at the senior retreat. Seaerra’s biggest interest is art, and she hopes to have a career related to that field. We wish her good luck in the future.
On our Golden Bear calendar, there’s quiz bowl today at Alta. Tomorrow several students will help pack meals for the Parish Families against Hunger project, and also tomorrow afternoon there’s the intramural playoffs.
The danz squad returns from nationals late tomorrow night. On Monday there’s all-state speech at UNI—with Shawn Vaske, Mark Fakler, and Amelia Golwitzer representing Garrigan.
Tuesday is the annual Academic Banquet, when we honor the top students in the school. Wednesday we’ll dismiss early because Algona High is getting out for the Easter holiday.
Garrigan and Seton will be in session next Thursday. We’ll have our Morning of Reflection that day, with an early dismissal and parish busing. Starting that afternoon there will be no school activities over the Easter triduum.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
