The Bear Facts
February 25, 2012
Good morning! I’m Elliot Boisjolie!
I’m Connor Garman!
And I’m Andrew McGuire! Welcome once again to the “Bear Facts”. Thanks for joining us for another weekly update from Bishop Garrigan High School.
Hundreds of students from all over north central Iowa are at Garrigan today. They’re in town for the Iowa High School Speech Association district individual speech contest. Garrigan has hosted district contest each year for the past twenty-seven years. Head coach Mary McCall is the contest manager, with assistant coach David Burrow building the schedule and helping out behind the scenes.
The Bears have thirty entries at today’s speech contest, including both varsity and freshman competitors. Amelia Golwitzer, Lizzy Hohmeister, Matthew Fakler, Christian Matthews, and Mark Fakler are entered in Acting; while Erica Carlson, Levi Bernhard, and Alissa Kirsch will be performing in Poetry. Austin Salz is competing in Radio News Announcing, and Melanie Mergen will present an Expository Address.
In the Prose category competitors include Jenny Broesder, Andrea Altman, Jake Hamilton, and Zach Kollasch. Melanie Mergen, Alissa Kirsch, and Tony Kollasch will be presenting Literary Programs, and in Improvisation the competitors are Craig Kohlhaas, Matthew Fakler, Levi Bernhard, and Mark Fakler.
All-staters Philip Detrick, Shawn Vaske, and Alex Matthews are all performing in Solo Musical Theatre, as is freshman Christian Matthews. Jenny Broesder, Austin Salz, and Lizzy Hohmeister are entered in the Storytelling competition. Finally, in the field of After-Dinner Speaking Andrea Altman and Philip Detrick will be representing the Bears. Best wishes to all our speech competitors. Break a leg, everyone!
Both the Golden Bear boys and girls advanced in basketball playoffs this year. The girls cruised past Laurens—Marathon and then beat West Bend—Mallard to advance to the regional semi-final. They played a good game but fell to LeMars Gehlen, who went on to win the regional championship. The boys got a good win against a tough Manson—Northwest Webster team, but then they faced the defending state champions, undefeated Storm Lake St. Mary’s. The Bears held their own, but they ended up losing a hard-fought game.
There’s still two weeks to go in the regular season for intramural basketball, and there have been some interesting ups and downs this season. Probably the biggest upset of the year came when juniors Elliot Boisjolie, Thomas Bradley, Bobby Plathe, Victor Berte, and Joseph Skilling beat the faculty team two weeks ago. Then last week that team fell to Andrew McGuire, Jake Kollasch, Jonathan Berte, Connor Garman, and Dillon Walker—who are the only team still undefeated at this point.
Next Friday the BGHS music department will present their annual pops concert. This is the best attended concert of the year, and it features a wide range of musical styles. Among the special groups featured are jazz band, show choir, and the vocal jazz ensembles. There will also be several solo presentations. Showtime is 7pm next Friday, so be sure to come out to Garrigan for the pops concert.
The quiz bowl team has been busy getting things ready for next month’s community tournament. This is the second year Garrigan is sponsoring a community quiz bowl, a friendly trivia competition for everyone from middle school age through adults. Teams of any size can register. The entry fee is just $25 per team, with proceeds helping to pay for the team’s trip to nationals this summer. More information is available on the BGHS website or by calling Philip Detrick at 341-8880.
Our Senior Spotlight this week shines on Eli Marlow. Here with all the details is Victor Berte.
Eli comes to Garrigan from the Livermore area. He’s been one of the key players on the Golden Bear basketball team this year—playing tough defense and draining outside shots. Now that basketball is over, Eli is looking forward to golf season. He also keeps busy as a senior class representative on the student council, and he’s been in Christian Leadership, baseball, and quiz bowl. Eli will have a head start on college, because he’s already taken several hours of college credit in high school. We wish him all the best in the future.
Thanks, Victor! On our Golden Bear calendar today, there’s district speech contest today at Garrigan. Admission is $3 for spectators, and everyone is welcome to watch the speech presentations.
Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Lent. It’s a fairly quiet week at school, with the biggest event of the week being pops concert rehearsal.
We’ll have an all-school mass on Leap Year Day. Then pops concert is next Friday at 7pm.
That’s the “Bear Facts” for February. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to listen to our show next week, when we’ll be back with more news from Bishop Garrigan High School.