BHMS Flies Flag on New Flagpole
Click here to access a photo gallery of the Flag Raising
With tremendous reverence and respect, and under the watchful eye of Special Law Enforcement Officer III John Hamilton and visiting VFW member Bob Abbott, Bunker Hill Middle School seventh-grade Honor Guard captains Anthony Vazquez and Tyler Giaconia led the first-ever flag-raising ceremony on the school’s newly installed flag pole on October 16th. Officer Hamilton reviewed the procedures for the ceremony the previous day, and Vasquez and Giaconia opened the first of many school days by unfolding the flag, raising it and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. They will be tasked with lowering it at day’s end.
“Last year we were in sixth grade and all other members of the Honor Guard were in eighth grade,” Giaconia said. “I was really nervous during my first few times raising the flag, but then I got the hang of it. I really like having this as my job. The flag is so important to this country.”
“Every day we bring the flag out from the office, and we raise and lower it,” Vasquez said. “It feels like I have a job to do. I’m needed.”
The Honor Guard itself was conceived and formed at BHMS three years ago by assistant principal Dr. Greg Muscelli, a former social studies teacher at Washington Township High School who was inspired by a similar ceremony that the WTHS JROTC cadets carry out every day at the school.
“The high school cadets came over and trained our students, and they do so each year,” Dr. Muscelli said. “Last year we noticed that our fiberglass flag pole needed to be replaced.”
School bookkeeper Briana Venturo assumed the task of researching the variety and costs of a replacement pole, and after the purchase, the decision was made to move it from its original location in the parking lot to a spot closer to the school’s entrance.
“Anything that has to do with making the school better is important to me,” Venturo said. “The old flagpole was rundown and leaning and definitely needed to be replaced. I did a lot of research. I learned a lot. It was really cool to watch and it meant a lot to see that flag go up today and to see the project come to fruition. There was a lot of hard work behind it.”
Further improvements to the space will be the placement of some stamped bricks, that are currently part of a fundraising project by the school’s PTO for a planned upgrade to the courtyard area, around the flagpole.
“Each and every day, the first thing that I look at is the flag pole,” Dr. Muscellia said. “I am very proud that our students get to walk out each morning, in this beautiful town in this beautiful country of ours, to raise and lower that flag. It is a great honor to be selected for that distinction because our flag means so much to us.”
Bunker Hill Middle School seventh-graders Anthony Vasques and Tyler Giaconia (holding flag) ceremoniously carry the flag to prepare for its raising.
BHMS Special Law Enforcement Officer III John Hamilton and VFW representative and former Board of Education vice president Bob Abbott watch as Anthony Vasquez prepares the cord that will carry the flag.
(lLeft to right): Tyler Giaconia, Officer Hamilton, Anthony Vasquez and Bob Abbott salute the flag on its first day of flying over Bunker Hill Middle School from its new location.