"The Bear Facts"

DECEMBER 23, 2000

Ho, ho, ho! I’m Steven Kellner!

I’m Autumn Thompson!

And I’m Mandy Rahm! Welcome to the “Bear Facts”. Merry Christmas from all of us here at Bishop Garrigan High School.

While we all know it’s going to be a white Christmas, it’s been a little bit harder than usual to get into the holiday spirit at school this year. That’s because we haven’t been to school much over the past two weeks. Between snow, wind, and cold, we only had two days of school this week—and both of them were late start days. We were supposed to have regular Advent candlelighting services, as well as going to confession. All of that had to be cancelled due to the weather.

No one’s complaining much, though. Almost everyone has been able to come up with ways to fill the time. … Like snowmobiling, which is probably the single most popular winter activity—especially among Garrigan’s boys. There hasn’t been much of a chance to snowmobile for the past few years, so now that the drifts are high, people are enjoying it. Some other students are spent time with their brothers and sisters, did chores on the farm, or just relaxed as they vegged out around the house.

Even with the on-again, off-again school, we have done some of the traditional holiday projects, though. Last week student council members found time to shop for gifts for their adopted Christmas families. The faculty also adopted a family, plus they collected gifts for residents of area care centers. The madrigal dinner came off as planned last Sunday, and the royal court has been busy caroling at service club meetings. Hopefully these things have helped spread some holiday cheer to other people around the area.

A lot of Garrigan students are already looking past the holidays. That’s because on Sunday, January 7, intramurals begin. Ninety-seven students are involved in intramurals this year—more than a third of all the people at Garrigan. The schedule includes teams made up of boys, girls, and even mixed groups. Each game they’ll play all-out for four eight-minute quarters, with a continuous clock—releasing all their energy as they rack up points against their opponents. The student council organizes intramurals, but it’s moderator David Burrow and student council president Brad Nelson who are really in charge of things.

Over the season we’ll be talking about all our intramural teams. We’ll start this week with the teams that are made up of girls—daring girls who will face the guys’ teams head on, without any special concessions. Kristin Studer is captain of a team of senior girls. Her teammates include Lisa Arndorfer, Mandy Roethler, Heather Johnson, and Deanna Kohlhaas. The rest of the team is made up of Britany Weir, Molly Meyer, Sherri Kollasch, Annette Long, and Marian Studer.

There are two teams of junior girls. The first calls themselves the “Chiquitas” and features Heather Forburger as their captain. Playing along with her will be Jamie Loebig, Ashley Thompson, Holly Forburger, Melissa Lancaster, and Jill Goodman. The final girls’ captain is Allison Courtney. Her teammates include Amanda Wolf, Chelsie Wood, Emily O’Kane, Hannah McCall, and Laura Seeley; as well as Monica Studer, Stephanie Hilbert, and Jamie Roethler. Good luck to these girls and to everybody involved in intramurals!

Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Andy Pierson and Michael Murphy. Here to tell you about them is Adam Rahm.

Andy Pierson goes by the nickname “Moose”, and it fits his king-size frame. You probably got acquainted with Andy during football season, when he racked up the tackles for the Golden Bear defense. Andy also enjoys track and intramural basketball, and in other seasons you’ll see him in the stands supporting his friends who play varsity baseball and basketball. Andy will be attending college next year, and we wish him all the best.

Michael Murphy thinks that life should always involve a bit of risk-taking. He enjoys his math and science classes, and he’s especially liked studying probability in Math V. Mike, who goes by “Mo”, is a fun-loving guy who we know will both study hard and have a good time at college. We wish both Mike and Andy the very best in the future.

Thanks, Adam. We’ve got two weeks of events on our Golden Bear calendar—but it’s still pretty empty, because of the holidays. There’s absolutely nothing scheduled for today. Then tomorrow is the fourth Sunday of Advent—not to mention Christmas Eve.

Monday we wish a Merry Christmas to everyone. Then the calendar is absolutely empty right straight through the rest of Y2K.

Classes resume on Wednesday, January 3, 2001. Thursday the 4th is the Feast of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, the patron of Seton Elementary School. That day we’ll have our Christmas mass at Garrigan.

Friday the 5th the Variations in Literature class will enjoy a Greek meal—where some of the foods they have been reading about in mythology come to life. That night the Bears host Hampton/Dumont.

Finally on Saturday, January 6th, a group of music students will attend the North Central Iowa Honor Band. Then that night the varsity Bears travel to Webster City to make up one of the games that was postponed by the snow.

That’s the “Bear Facts” for the year 2000. We’ll be off next week because of the holiday break, but be sure to join us again in 2001. Until then, all of us at Garrigan would like to wish every one of you the happiest of holiday seasons.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

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