The Bear Facts
February 18, 2012
Good morning! I’m Alex Boisjolie!
I’m Craig Kohlhaas!
And I’m Austin Salz! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”, the weekly radio show from Bishop Garrigan High School.
On last week’s show we told you that more than 70% of our large group speech entries received division one ratings at state contest. While we had to wait a week to find out, it turned out there was even better news from contest. Sunday we learned that Garrigan’s musical theatre entry was selected as an outstanding performance, one of the top entries at state.
Philip Detrick, Shawn Vaske, Alex Matthews, and Neal Koob are down in Ames today at the All-State Speech Festival. They will receive their all-state medals and view some of the other top performances from all over the state. Their musical theatre entry was “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It was a comical interpretation of the music that featured athletic choreography. Congratulations to Philip, Shawn, Alex, and Neal on their outstanding performance!
There was more success for BGHS last weekend. The Golden Bear math team went down to Ames to compete in a Great Plains Math League contest at Iowa State University. Garrigan had a great day at the contest, with three of the Bears qualifying for state. Tony Kollasch took first place among freshmen, Allison Frideres was third among juniors, and Jenny Broesder was the third place senior. They join previous state qualifiers Craig Kohlhaas and Dorothy Kirsch. The state math contest will be April 21 in Iowa City.
The BGHS spring play is coming up next month. Dates for the show are Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31. This year’s show is called Shoestring Theatre. It features a play within a play as a group of actors try to present a production of Cinderella on a shoestring budget. The cast of Shoestring Theatre includes seniors Philip Detrick, Lizzy Hohmeister, Jenny Broesder, Austin Salz, and Lana Larson.
Juniors in the show include Amelia Golwitzer, Matthew Fakler, Shawn Vaske, Alissa Kirsch, Melanie Mergen, and Dustin Miller. Younger students in the cast are Nick Bronk, Mark Fakler, Levi Bernhard, Hannah Bernhard, Dorothy Kirsch, Erin Quinlin, Zach Kollasch, Tony Kollasch, and Jacob Thul. Be sure to mark your calendar for March 30 – 31 to see Shoestring Theatre.
Another group that has been getting ready for competition is Garrigan’s Envirothon team. Science teacher Beany Bode organized a team of biology and ecology students who will compete in the largest environmental competition in the USA and Canada. Envirothon subjects include general ecology, aquatics, forestry, wildlife, and soil.
Jonathan Berte, Jason Reding, John Burns, Andrew McGuire, and Andrea Gisch will represent Bishop Garrigan at this year’s Envirothon. They will go to a regional competition on March 15 at Cherokee. If they’re one of the top teams at regionals, they will advance to the state Envirothon, which is at the University of Northern Iowa later this spring.
Gala 2012 is just around the corner. 2012 marks the twenty-third year for the school’s biggest fundraiser, and over the years Gala has brought in more than four and a quarter million dollars. This year’s Gala theme is “Jewels of the Nile”, and the big night will be April 14. Mick and Patty Elbert, Vic and Tricia Garry, and Al and Sandy Laubenthal are organizing this year’s event. Be sure to get your tickets for Gala 2012.
All year long you can check out information and see pictures of every activity at Garrigan on the BGHS website – bishopgarrigan.org. Bishop Garrigan was one of the first schools to go online, and it’s always been way more than a template put up by the office. For the past fifteen years our website has been designed and maintained by students. The site is the main focus of Mr. Burrow’s Specialized Technology Topics class. This semester Zach Keith, Andrea Altman, and Victor Berte are in charge of the Garrigan website. Check out their work at bishopgarrigan.org.
This week’s Senior Spotlight shines on Sam Evers. Here to tell you about him is John Richter.
Over the years Sam Evers’ biggest interest has been art. He’s both creative and talented. If you’ve seen a poster or invitation for an event at Garrigan, there’s a good chance Sam had something to do with it. He’s also designed and built sets and done other backstage work for Garrigan shows. Sam has been part of two award-winning short films for speech, and he also enjoys intramural basketball. We wish Sam all the best in college and beyond.
Thanks, John. On our Golden Bear calendar this week, there’s all-state speech today down in Ames. There’s also a junior high quiz bowl tournament at Garrigan today.
Intramurals continue tomorrow. Monday there’s the girls basketball regional final at Orange City. Tuesday the school board meets, and there’s boys districts that night.
Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. We’ll have a service of word and ashes for Seton and Garrigan students at 8:40 at St. Cecelia’s. That night the danz squad has a clinic.
The boys district final is Thursday. Friday night the danz squad hosts their big spring show. Then next Saturday we’ll host the district individual speech contest here at Garrigan.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for this week. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in again next Saturday for all the news from Bishop Garrigan High School.