The Bear Facts
May 12, 2012
Good morning! I’m Elliot Boisjolie!
I’m Kendra Roethler!
And I’m Alex Matthews! Welcome to our next to last “Bear Facts” for the 2011 – 2012 school year. Thanks for joining us to hear the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.
It’s been kind of quiet at Garrigan the past few days. The seniors wrapped up their year last Wednesday and had their baccalaureate mass and awards assembly that night. Both last weekend and this weekend many seniors have had graduation receptions. The commencement ceremony is tomorrow, and forty members of the Class of 2012 will go across the stage to receive their diplomas.
This past week has been a big one for the BGHS music department. Last week they braved tornado warnings at the state large group music contest. They ended up doing very well, though. Fourteen schools competed at state solo and ensemble contest, and the Garrigan a cappella choir received one of only three Division Ones given out. They sang “Song of Triumph”, “Salvation is Created”, and “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” as their contest selections.
The band also did a great job at contest. Their performances of “Air for Band” and “Denbridge Way” earned them a Division One rating as well. Then last Wednesday the BGHS chamber choir went down to Ames to perform the selection that earned them an outstanding performance citation at state solo and ensemble contest. Congratulations to directors Ken and Linda Ferjak and all the band and choir!
Last Sunday the fine arts department handed out their awards for 2012. Probably the biggest winner of the night was senior Philip Detrick. Philip earned top honors in band, choir, drama, and speech. Philip will be using his fine arts skills in college, where he plans to major in musical theatre. Other seniors honored included Austin Salz, John Richter, Samantha Cruise, Mackenzie Eischen, Jenny Broesder, Anna Morse, Lana Larson, Lizzy Hohmeister, Andrea Altman, Rachel Berte, Sam Evers, Jeanne McCall, and McKenna McGuire.
The quiz bowl team also passed out honors last Sunday. Eight Golden Bears qualified for national quiz bowl and will be headed to Chicago next month for that competition. They are MVP Philip Detrick; fellow senior Rachel Berte; junior Allison Frideres; sophomores Levi Bernhard and Jakob Hamilton; and freshmen Zach Kollasch, Hannah Bernhard, and Tony Kollasch. Also earning quiz bowl letters this year are seniors John Richter and Craig Kohlhaas, junior Dustin Miller, and freshman Taylor Illg.
This was a big week for the Golden Bear track and golf teams. Monday the Bears competed in the North Central Conference meets. To no one’s surprise, the girls golf team won the conference championship, which adds to their collection of trophies. Sophomore Alexa Capesius has been the team stand-out this year, earning medalist honors at meet after meet.
The boys golf team has been in the middle of the pack in conference play, but they’ve fared very well against similarly-sized schools. They played their sectional tournament yesterday, while the girls begin district play next Monday. Both teams are hoping to return to the state meets later in the month. Seniors Brandon Schiltz, Eli Marlow, Billy Schiltz, Joey Farrell, Sheridan Berte, and McKenna McGuire are wrapping up their high school golf careers. We wish good luck to them and all the golfers.
The girls track team finished second in the North Central Conference meet this week, which is the team’s best finish ever in the conference. Both the boys and girls ran at Lake Mills on Thursday to qualify for next week’s state meet. The Bears set four new records in track this year. On the boys side Tyler Schnurr, Brayton Loss, Adam Hamilton, and Shawn Vaske broke the shuttle hurdle record. For the girls, Aubrie Meyers tied Macy Fickbohm’s record in the 100-meter dash, and Addison Miller shattered the old records in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Congratulations track, and good luck at state!
Last week we celebrated Grandparents Day at Bishop Garrigan. This tradition started about fifteen years ago as a small event that took place in the winter. We moved it to spring, and it has grown and grown. Last Friday we packed the gym with more than 600 people as grandparents and other senior citizens joined us for lunch and a tour of the school. We want to thank our grandparents for the support they give—both to our families and our school.
Last week we announced the new class presidents who will serve on next year’s student council. Each class also elected student council representatives. The representatives for the Class of 2013 are Elliot Boisjolie and Noelle Vitzthum, while Nicole Behr and Taylor Hovey will represent the Class of 2014. For next year’s sophomores the representatives are Christian Matthews and Cassidy Vitzthum, and the incoming freshmen will be represented by Blake Elsbecker and Michael Condoleon.
The new student council has already met twice, as they’ve started to make plans for next year’s Homecoming. The big annual event will be the third week of school, the week after Labor Day. The Bears are planning to go way out with an outer space theme for the week. We’ll let you know more about it once school starts up in the fall.
We’re done with our senior spotlights for the year, so we’ll go straight into our Golden Bear calendar. There’s lots of graduation receptions today, and tomorrow we’ll celebrate Mothers Day.
The BGHS commencement ceremony is tomorrow at 2pm. You can hear Philip Detrick’s speech and all the rest of the graduation ceremony right here on KLGA.
Monday is district girls golf. We’ll have our last all-school mass of the year on Tuesday. Then Wednesday we’ll start our final exams. All through finals there’s a special schedule, and we have open campus whenever we don’t have tests.
Next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there’s the state track meet in Des Moines. Friday is also when the boys state golf tournament begins.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for graduation weekend. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in next week when we’ll be back one last time to wrap up the year and preview all the summer events here at Bishop Garrigan High School.