Bucktail to Host Annual Veterans Day Assembly “Service to Our Nation”
FARWELL – Bucktail Middle/Senior High School will host the annual Veterans Day Assembly Program on Tuesday November 11, 2025, in the Dale Florey High School Gymnasium. The assembly will begin at 9:30 am. The Bucktail High School Band, under the direction of Abby Novak, Bucktail Campus Band Director will open the assembly with The Armed Services Medley. The theme of the assembly this year is “Service to Our Nation.” Hosts for the assembly are Eva Sockman, 2025 Miss Bucktail and McKenna Stone, 2025 Miss Laurel Representative.
This year the guest speaker will be Aaron R. Kelley, (pictured) Commander of the 213th Personnel Company, Pennsylvania Army National Guard and 2014 graduate of Bucktail Area High School. Veteran Courtney Gardner Billings, Bucktail Graduate Class of 2012, will be singing Airborne Ranger Infantry. Following Courtney, Dan Heiser will present an iMovie of the Renovo Elementary School’s tribute to our veterans.
The second half of the program will follow with a musical selection by Erica Morton, singing Take Me Home Country Roads. As a member of the Hometown Heroes Committee and Army Veteran, Mary George Rhone will address the assembly, explaining the program. Robert and Linda Kelley will follow with a musical selection Hometown Heroes, a song recorded by Chris Woodward. Chris is a Central Pennsylvania Musician who has recorded albums in Nashville, TN, including this selection. Rich Wykoff will present a video entitled Service to Our Nation, highlighting contributions made by Anna Cowfer, Cameron Sockman, Mattisyn Mason, and Bucktail’s Miss Bucktail, Miss Laurel Representative, and the Hostesses for the 25-26 school year.
Continuing with tradition, the 11th hour Ceremony will follow with Senior Kedda Bissman playing the 11 drumbeats, the Unfurling of the American Flag by the Bucktail Cheerleaders, under the direction of Missy Getz and Mandy Ditty, the singing of the National Anthem, by Senior Kedda Bissman, and the playing of TAPs by Band Director, Abby Novak. The Folding of the Flag Ceremony will follow with narrator John Tarantella, Jay Morocko, and Art Kramer. James Poleto, Bucktail Campus Principal, will provide closing remarks, followed by Bob and Linda Kelley, singing God Bless the USA.
In addition to the assembly, the PBIS Club will be collecting canned goods for the holiday season for our local food bank. Please consider bringing canned goods to the assembly to support these young people who are part of the assembly today.
Please join us as we remember all those who served to protect and defend our country and will continue to preserve the American way of life. The public are invited to. Refreshments will follow from Mrs. Dufour’s Family and Consumer Science in the gym lobby.
