The Bear Facts
September 29, 2018

Good morning! I’m Jordan Hansen!

I’m Abbi Heying!

And I’m Amanda Miller! Thanks for tuning in to the “Bear Facts”, the show where each week we keep you in touch with all the news at Bishop Garrigan High School.

Today is Algona Band Day, and again this year Garrigan’s Solid Gold Marching Band will be competing in both the parade and field competitions. Both the junior high and high school bands will be part of the Band Day parade, which begins at 1:00 this afternoon. Then at 6pm the Bishop Garrigan High School band will perform in the field competition at Algona High.

The band’s competition show this year is called “A Night at the Movies”. The performance begins with the “Twentieth Century Fanfare”, and it also includes “Cartoon Capers”, “Star Wars”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Greatest Show”. Mrs. Katherine Wiemers directs the Solid Gold Marching Band, with assistance from Mr. Ken Ferjak.

Emma Thul and Ashlyn Harrington are this year’s drum majors. Other seniors in band include Layah DeLange, Megan Bronk, Lauren Kenyon, Sami Darling, Gabe Trainer, and Megan Besch. After band day is over, the next big event will be state marching band contest, which is next weekend in Ft. Dodge. Good luck, band!


This coming week is also a big one for the Bishop Garrigan choir. Next Wednesday is Catholic Choral Day, when vocalists from all over the Sioux City Diocese get together. This year’s choral festival is being held at St. Edmond High School in Ft. Dodge. Garrigan will join the other choirs in preparing throughout the day, and there will be a big joint concert at 7:00 that night. Best wishes to the BGHS choir.
 

Last Tuesday Garrigan students went over to the performing arts center to join Algona High students for a special assembly on drugs. Jessie Whitmer, an officer from the Iowa Division of Narcotics Investigation, gave the presentation. He discussed the dangers of many different kinds of drugs, some of which were really disgusting. He also showed us how to identify them, and pointed out that with narcotics things aren’t always what they seem to be.

There was another special event at school on Wednesday. We dedicated a new peace pole, which is part of the garden by the front entrance of the school along McCoy Street. The peace pole is a symbol of our prayers for peace in our hearts, our communities, our families, and throughout our world. Garrigan’s is the second peace pole to appear in Algona, following another pole installed by the Congregational Church. We know the pole itself won’t change the world, but we hope our prayers will make a difference and help bring about lasting peace.

Tomorrow morning Garrigan’s sophomores will be celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop R. Walker Nickless will be in Algona for the event. Sophomores have spent the past year preparing to take this special step in their faith. Their freshman religion classes focus on confirmation, and they’ve also had a series of special retreats. The confirmation service will be at 10:45am tomorrow morning at St. Cecelia’s. Congratulations to the sophomores on reaching this milestone.


The cross-country team had the past week off, because the Algona High meet that was scheduled for last Monday was cancelled. They’re scheduled to run again next Monday at Eagle Grove. While no one is expecting them to do quite as well as they did earlier this year in Emmetsburg, when four different Golden Bears medaled, we are hoping for some success in the Eagle Grove meet. The Bears’ top runners include Baily Kollasch for the girls, and John Meis, Joseph Meis, and Quinn Swift on the boys side. Good luck, cross-country.

Part of being a Catholic school is celebrating mass together. We have mass almost every week at Garrigan, usually on Wednesday mornings. Most of the time students are responsible for planning mass and serving as lectors, music leaders, and altar servers. Already this year each of the high school classes has led mass once, and so have the teachers and the student council. Soon the younger kids will have their turn at the front of church as well.
 

If you came out to Garrigan this past week, you might have noticed something weird. Some students have Stars of David on their lockers and bookbags, and are wearing buttons with that design. A sign by the best drinking fountain in school says “No Jews Allowed”, and those students have also been required to sit separately in some classes and at lunch.

This is all part of a special project in a class Mr. Rosenmeyer teaches about the Holocaust. Instead of just learning about things as history, the in-school discrimination helps people to more personally appreciate what things were like for those who suffered in Nazi Germany. Of course we don’t plan to haul any students off to concentration camps, but we do hope the project helps them keep things like the Holocaust from happening in the future.

Our Senior Spotlight for Band Day shines on Logan Heying. Here to tell you about him is Meredith Tigges.


 Logan Heying grew up in the Spencer area and came to Garrigan for high school. He plays the tuba in band, and he also enjoys playing guitar at school masses. Logan is a three-time veteran of national quiz bowl, and he also keeps busy with baseball, math team, speech, drama, and choir. You’ve also likely heard him announcing here on the “Bear Facts”. Logan plans to study engineering or music in college, and we wish him all the best in his senior year and his future.

Thanks, Meredith. On this week’s Golden Bear calendar, today is Algona Band Day. The parade starts at 1pm, and Garrigan will compete in the field competition at 6:00.

Tomorrow at 10:45 the sophomores will be confirmed at St. Cecelia’s. Monday the volleyball team will be hosting Webster City, and also that night the JV football team travels to Britt, and they hope to do as well as the varsity did against West Hancock.

Tuesday we’ll have the awards assembly from the calendar drive. That night the volleyball team travels to West Hancock.

We’ll have a school mass Wednesday morning. Wednesday is also Catholic Choral Day, with the concert that night at 7:00 at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond.
Thursday it’s the third volleyball game of the week, with the Bears travelling to Newell Fonda. Then next Friday the football team will play North Union in Armstrong.
 

That’s the “Bear Facts” for October. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to catch the show again next week for more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.