Bucktail High School to Honor Veterans with Assembly on November 11 “A Legacy of Loyalty and Service”
FARWELL – Bucktail Middle/Senior High School will proudly host its annual Veterans Day Assembly on Monday, November 11, 2024, in the Dale Florey High School Gymnasium. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m., honoring our veterans and celebrating the theme, “A Legacy of Loyalty and Service.”
The Bucktail High School Band, led by Campus Band Director Brandon Kahley, will open the assembly with a performance of The Armed Services Medley. This year’s assembly hosts are Mattisyn Mason, 2024 Miss Bucktail, and Rosella Tarantella, 2024 Miss Laurel Representative.
Our first guest speaker will be Colonel Steven H. Rathmell, retired Commander of the 224th Air Defense Group with the New York Air National Guard, and a proud 1986 graduate of Bucktail. Following Colonel Rathmell, Veteran Courtney Gardner Billings, a 2012 Bucktail graduate, will perform I’ll Be Seeing You, a song cherished by service members during WWII. After Courtney’s performance, Mike Poorman, Dean of Students at Bucktail, will recognize Bucktail Seniors Mattisyn Mason and Lillian Sporny, recently sworn into the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Dan Heiser will then share an iMovie tribute created by Renovo Elementary School students in honor of our veterans.
In the second half of the program, First Sergeant (Ret.) Thomas Tarantella will deliver an address. Next, local favorite Autumn Gavlock, accompanied by Band Director Brandon Kahley, will perform Color Me America by Dolly Parton. Hayleigh Dent and Martin Lewis will then introduce an iMovie they created with Rich Wykoff, representing the Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park.
The traditional 11th Hour Ceremony will follow, featuring Junior Kedda Bissman performing the 11 drumbeats, the unfurling of the American flag by the Bucktail Varsity Cheerleaders, directed by Missy Getz and Mandy Ditty, the National Anthem sung by Kedda Bissman, and Taps played by Brandon Kahley. The Folding of the Flag Ceremony will then be led by narrator John Tarantella with Jay Morocko and Art Kramer. Bucktail Campus Principal James Poleto will offer closing remarks, and the Bucktail Band will conclude the program with America the Beautiful.
We invite the public to join us in honoring those who have served and who continue to safeguard our freedom and American way of life. Refreshments will be available in the gym lobby, provided by Mrs. Dufour’s Family and Consumer Science classes.
