Good morning! I'm Steve Kellner!
And I'm Bob Brandenburg! Welcome once again to the "Bear
Facts", KLGA's weekly update from Bishop Garrigan High
School.
Today is one of the busiest days of the year at Garrigan. It's time for the district individual speech contest. BGHS has hosted district contest for the past fifteen years, and almost everyone in the area agrees that it is usually one of the smoothest-running contests in the state. In fact, when one of the worst winter storms in decades forced postponement of the contest, every center ran ahead of schedule and both coaches and contestants complimented Garrigan on an excellent contest. Around three hundred students are at BGHS today, and we hope they'll all have a good experience as they compete in district speech.
The Bears themselves have twenty-five entries in individual speech. Four Garrigan students are competing in Acting. They include Rebecca McGuire with "Vivid Recollection", David Murphy's rendition of "The Defense of Wieland", Sarah Schmitt performing "I Like Men", and Bob Brandenburg with "To Be Or Not to Be". Three students-Tony Detrick, Chris Kohlhaas, and David Murphy-are entered in Improvisation, and another
three--John Kohlhaas, Kim Frideres, and Steven Kellner-are in Radio News Announcing. Then there's Spontaneous Speaking, where the Bears' lone entry is exchange student Christoph
Gebele.
In Public Address, Autumn Thompson will recite "Not Like Others". There are also three interpretive poetry selections, all of which are parodies of fairy tales. Mandy Rahm will read "Jack and the Beanstalk", Keshar Nadkarni is performing "Cinderella", and Brooke Myers will present "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". In interpretive prose, Amber Golwitzer's selection is "To the Class Least Likely To", Rachel McGuire is presenting "The Little Match Girl", and Rachel Foth will read the selection "I Can't Breathe".
Garrigan has three After-Dinner Speaking entries, all of whom will give humorous speeches addressed to imaginary groups. Rebecca McGuire's speech is entitled "First Date", Steven Kellner has written a speech on "Church Ettiquette", and Chris Kohlhaas will be addressing the "Association of Really Funny People". In Storytelling, Nicole Elbert is performing "The Mitten" while Rosie Kirsch presents "Peter Pan". Bob Brandenburg will present an original oratory on movies, and exchange student Christoph will give an expository address about his native Germany. We wish the best to all of these students-and to their coaches, Mary McCall and Sarah Freking. Break a leg, everybody!
Many of those same students will also be part of "The Crucible", the BGHS spring play. The show is drama that is set in early colonial times. Seniors in the cast include Bob Brandenburg as Deputy-Governor Danforth, Chris Kohlhaas as Francis Nurse, Mike Loebach as John Proctor, Rebecca McGuire as Mary Warren, Cathy Hellman as Mercy Lewis, and Mandy Rahm as Mrs. Ann Putnam. The play will be presented March 23rd and 24th, and we'll fill you in on more of the cast between now and that time.
The Bears bowed out of basketball playoffs early this year, but intramural basketball is still going on. Last Sunday Ben Meyer's team set a new record for points scored in intramurals when they trounced--and I mean trounced--Stephanie Hilbert's team by a score of 244 to 23. Needless to say, Ben's team is in first place overall at the moment. His teammates include Nick Lane, Tyler Erpelding, Steve Goede, Andy Kardoes, Brian Welp, and Tyler Trenary. Intramurals continue tomorrow.
Math teacher Daryl Kohlhaas had some good news this week. He was elected to the state board of the Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics. As a regional director, Mr. Kohlhaas will represent math teachers from all around northwest Iowa. He'll be the second Garrigan teacher on the state math board, since he joins David Burrow who already serves as newsletter editor and webmaster for the Iowa Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Congratulations, Mr. Kohlhaas!
This week's Senior Spotlight shines on Brian Welp and Amanda Gisch. Why don't you tell us about them, Steve?
Brian Welp is a Bancroft native who is one of the tallest members of the Class of 2002. You probably know him best as one of the top receivers on the Golden Bear football team last fall. Brian also enjoys track and intramural basketball. He'll be off to college next year, and we wish him all the best.
This past week was a big one for Amanda Gisch. It was National FFA Week, and Amanda is a Garrigan student who's an officer in the Algona FFA. Her other activities include softball, music, and the Christian Leadership in Action group. She plans an agribusiness major at college. Good luck, Amanda!
Thanks, Steve! On this week's Golden Bear calendar, there's the district individual speech contest today right here at Garrigan. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to come and watch the performances.
Tomorrow intramurals resume. Then Monday and Wednesday after school we'll have parent/teacher conferences.
I know everyone's looking forward to those. Again this spring conferences will be at the Rochleau Center at St. Cecelia's. Because of conferences, there's no school on Friday.
The annual Pops Concert will be next Thursday and Friday nights. Showtime is 7:30pm, and we encourage everyone to come on out for a wonderful show.
Finally, we'd like to give you a quick update on our top story from last week. This has been a much calmer week at Garrigan, partly because we got the word that sophomore Adam Arndorfer has stabilized and is doing better. Adam is out of intensive care, and his friends on the basketball team went to visit him in Rochester this past week. We continue to pray for Adam and all the Arndorfer family, and we want to see him back here at school soon.
That's the "Bear Facts" for February. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to tune in next week when we'll be bringing you more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.