The Bucktail High School Band, under the direction of Brandon Kahley, Bucktail Campus band director, will open the assembly with “The Armed Services Medley.” The theme of the assembly this year is “A Legacy of Loyalty and Service.” Hosts for the assembly are Mattisyn Mason, 2024 Miss Bucktail, and Rosella Tarantella, 2024 Miss Laurel Representative.

This year the first guest speaker will be Colonel Steven H. Rathmell, Commander of the 224 Air Defense Group, New York Air National Guard-Retired. He is a Bucktail graduate, Class of 1986.

Veteran Courtney Gardner Billings, Bucktail graduate, Class of 2012, will be singing a song made popular during WWII, “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

Following Courtney’s presentation, Mike Poorman, dean of students for the Bucktail Campus, will address the assembly. He will introduce Bucktail seniors who were sworn into the Pennsylvania Army National Guard — Mattisyn Mason and Lillian Sporny.

Tom Tarantella

Dan Heiser will follow with an iMovie of the Renovo Elementary School and their tribute to our veterans.

The second half of the program, Thomas Tarantella, First Sergeant, US Army Retired, will address the assembly.

Autumn Gavlock, a local favorite, will be accompanied by Brandon Kahley singing “Color Me America” by Dolly Parton. Hayleigh Dent and Martin Lewis will introduce an iMovie they helped to create with Rich Wykoff, representing the Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park.

Continuing with tradition, the 11th hour Ceremony will follow with Junior Kedda Bissman playing the 11 drum beats, the Unfurling of the American Flag by the Bucktail Varsity Cheerleaders, under the direction of Missy Getz and Mandy Ditty, the singing of the National Anthem, by Junior Kedda Bissman, and the playing of TAPs by Band Director Brandon Kahley.

The Folding of the Flag Ceremony will follow with narrator John Tarantella, Jay Morocko and Art Kramer.

James Poleto, Bucktail Campus Principal, will bring the assembly to a close, followed by the Bucktail Band playing “America the Beautiful.”

Please join the Bucktail community as they remember all those who served to protect and defend our country, and will continue to preserve the American way of life.

The public is invited to attend. Refreshments will follow from Mrs. Dufour’s Family and Consumer Science classes in the gym lobby.