Mr. Burrow teaches mathematics at Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona, Iowa. 2024 - 2025 is his forty-second year at the school, so he has been there for more than half of the school's history.  He actually started in the middle of the year (November 21, 1983), replacing a Spanish teacher who was asked to resign.

His schedule includes Geometry, Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry, Math Analysis, Discrete Mathematics, college-credit Statistics and Calculus, and Specialized Technology Topics (Web Design). He also serves as the school's gifted and talented coordinator. He was originally hired to teach Spanish (his minor in college), and in the past he has taught every other math course the school offers--including Algebra I, Applied Mathematics, Introduction to Algebra and Geometry, and General Math. For three years he also tutored a student in Russian, and he has tutored students in French.  Recently he also taught Algebra to an immigrant student who was learning the English language.

Mr. Burrow's extra-curricular responsibilities include the school's award-winning quiz bowl team (which has made numerous trips to the National Academic Championships since 1995), group and individual speech, and the weekly "Bear Facts" radio show. The "Bear Facts" airs each Saturday at 8:45am on KLGA Radio (FM 92.7) in Algona, Iowa.  In the past he was in charge of the student council, which included Homecoming and intramural basketball, and he also worked with a competitive math team.

For more than thirty years Mr. Burrow has also been the "Voice of the Bears", the public address announcer for football games at the BGHS Conway Field. He has also occasionally announced baseball games and introduced teams in all sports at pep rallies.

Each fall Mr. Burrow serves as the tournament manager for the state's largest quiz bowl tournament, the Bishop Garrigan Invitational. The tournament first started in 1991, and has welcomed as many as 72 teams from schools all over Iowa.   The tournament was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but it has been live again since 2021.

Post from Bishop Garrigan Facebook page

Scenes of Mr. Burrow's classroom at BGHS

LEFT: Mr. Burrow in his classroom
RIGHT: Announcing a Golden Bear football game

Announcing the Golden Bear baseball at Target Field in Minneapolis - 20925

A caricature of Mr. Burrow drawn by former student Jenny Lind for "A Day in the Life of Garrigan" -- 1993

Left: Mr. Burrow posing by a poster for Teacher Appreciation Week
Right: Mr. Burrow and a student working at Gala, 2003

Left and Right: Drawings of Mr. Burrow by students Center: Homecoming 2002

Mr. Burrow's first school picture as a teacher at Garrigan

Mr. Burrow and a student in Room 23 at Bishop Garrigan High School

A picture of Mr. Burrow drawn by former student and friend James White as an Algebra I assignment

Mr. Burrow at national quiz bowl in Chicago in 2016

Links to other sites on the Web

NEXT PAGE (Iowa Lakes Community College)
Golden Bear Quiz Bowl
Bishop Garrigan High School  (site managed by Mr. Burrow's students)
Bishop Garrigan High School  ("official" site managed by the school development office)
Questions Unlimited (National Quiz Bowl Sponsor)
"Bear Facts" Radio Show
Iowa High School Speech Association
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