THE BEAR FACTS
January 28, 2017


Emerald: Good morning! I’m Emerald Shipler!

Jenna: I’m Jenna Boelter!

Tommy: And I’m Tommy Kollasch! You’re listening to a special edition of the “Bear Facts”, where we’re getting ready for Catholic Schools Week here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

Emerald: Every year Catholic Schools Week celebrates the difference Catholic schools make. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge, and Service”. The week begins tomorrow with special masses in the area parishes honoring Catholic schools. Then on Monday afternoon we’ll have a special mass celebrating the week.

Jenna: Tuesday we’ll honor our country, and Wednesday we’ll honor the hard-working staff that work at Garrigan and Seton. We’ll begin the day with a special breakfast sponsored by Garrigan Parents in Action. Then Wednesday afternoon we’ll have some fun, with high school students playing a rotation of “Minute to Win It” games. Wednesday night the speech department will present their annual Speech Spectacular, showcasing the large group events.

Tommy: Thursday we’ll celebrate school spirit. There will be a pep rally that day, and we’ll also watch some staff members kiss a goat, which celebrates the thousands of dollars we raised to send goats to St. Cecelia’s sister parish in Chantal, Haiti. Friday morning we’ll enjoy a variety of fun activities—including a movie, roller-skating, bowling, snowshoeing, and ice fishing. That afternoon we’ll have the traditional Blessing of the Throats.

Emerald: Last Saturday the speech team competed in large-group district contest at Manson, and they ended up having an excellent day. All of Garrigan’s events earned Division One or “Excellent” ratings and will advance to state contest next weekend. The Bears earned I’s for the Readers Theatre “The Brothers Grimm: Out of Order”, the Choral Reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, the Ensemble Acting selection “In the Principal’s Office”, and the Musical Theatre presentation “Beauty and the Beast”.

Jenna: Students earning top ratings include Sam Trainer, Gigi Byrkeland, Ashlyn Harrington, Gabe Trainer, Sam Vaske, Bryce Capesius, Laurel Degen, and Lauren Kenyon; as well as Caroline Bradley, Sam Harrington, Jordan Hansen, John Zeimet, Megan Bronk, Logan Heying, and Tommy Kollasch. Others earning I’s were Alisa Altman, Kat Willie, Megan Wadle, Johanna Becker, Jenna Boelter, John Meis, Madison Illg, Layah DeLange, Emma Thul, and Emory Miller; plus Isabelle Davis, Levi Capesius, Caitlin Thilges, and Aidan Koob. Congratulations to all these students and to coaches Jake Rosenmeyer and David Burrow!

Tommy: With all the snow days we’ve had since Christmas, we’ve had to do a lot of re-scheduling of basketball games. Among the recent changes, the Bears will be making up their quad at Belmond—Klemme this coming Thursday, February 2nd. Also the quad vs. Garner Hayfield Ventura that was scheduled for last Tuesday has been moved to Thursday, February 9th. Senior night will still be on Tuesday of that week, when the Bears take on West Hancock.

Emerald: Next week we’ll be holding our annual community meeting to get input from community members and parents of students at Garrigan and Seton. A lot of good ideas have come out of recent community meetings. One of the biggest was the capital campaign that led to the construction project that gave us our new gym. We welcome anyone who would like to give input to attend the community meeting this coming Wednesday night.

Jenna: For the past two days nearly a fourth of Garrigan’s high school students have been in Washington D.C. They joined thousands of other people from all over the country for the National Right to Life Rally and March, which was held yesterday and extended from the National Mall to the U.S. Supreme Court Building. The students also had time to see some of the sights of Washington. They’re heading back today and should be home tomorrow afternoon.

Tommy: Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Grant Buscherfeld. Here to tell you about him is Myles Koob.

Myles: Grant Buscherfeld us probably best known for his accomplishments on the football field. His skill as a linebacker and runningback are one of the key reasons the Bears made it to the state championship game last fall. He’s recovering from an injury right now, but his past activities have also included basketball, track, and baseball. Grant is a National Honor Society member, and he enjoys working on the school website. He’ll be off to college next year, and we wish Grant all the best in the future.

Emerald: On our Golden Bear calendar this afternoon there’s a basketball quad at Mason City Newman. Then tomorrow afternoon several Garrigan students are returning from the Right to Life March in Washington, D.C.

Jenna: Monday afternoon we’ll have our Catholic Schools Week mass. Then Tuesday night the Bears will host a quad versus the North Iowa Bison.

Tommy: The annual Speech Spectacular will be Wednesday at 6pm in the Garrigan cafeteria. Then at 7:15 we’ll have the community meeting at Seton.

Emerald: We’ll have a pep rally at 1:45 next Thursday, and that night the Bears will play a basketball quad at Belmond. Then next Friday morning Garrigan will host the chamber coffee at the St. Cecelia’s parish center.

Jenna: Garrigan students will be doing fun activities Friday morning, and we’ll have the blessing of the throats next Friday afternoon. Friday night there’s a basketball quad at Forest City, and then next Saturday there’s the state large group speech contest at Spencer.

Myles: That’s the “Bear Facts” for January. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.