This year Hamburg Area High School hosted its second First Responders and Armed Forces night on September 15. This night honors everyone in the community who is a First Responder or in the Armed Forces. There were many people from the community who joined together and made this possible: the local police, military personnel, and Hamburg, Shoemakersville, Shartlesville, Virginville, and Strausstown fire companies. There were many fire trucks, police cars, and military vehicles to take pictures with along with a helicopter that was in the multipurpose field. The helicopter then flew over the field as the HAHS band played the national anthem and fireworks blasted in the background. This night was also youth football and cheerleading night. Many of the youth participants were at the game on Friday and got to cheer the high school football team onto the fields. 

     This night is one of the biggest games of the year and thanks to the careful planning of cheerleading coach Brad Valentino and others this night is possible. Planning for this night started back in April about five months ago. “This year we were able to recognize about 150 service members and first responders at halftime,” Brad stated. This did not include the first responders and military members that did not come out on the field during halftime. “In all there were probably close to 250-300 service members and first responders in attendance.” This year there were even more first responders and service members than last year and next year there will hopefully be even more. Next year “the goal is to continue to have the event evolve and grow. There will be some stuff tweaked from this year and there will be new additions to next year’s event.” 

     Peyton Snyder, a high school cheerleader, says her favorite part of the night was “ seeing the Black Hawk fly over the field.” She also says “There were a lot more people there than last year; there were also more vehicles to see. Overall I feel the night went well but it was very busy.” Brad reflects on the evening and states, “I feel that overall it went very well, but I am a perfectionist, and I know that there are many things that we can improve on next year’s event.” He added, “All I hope is that our military members and first responders appreciate everything that we put together for them.” 

     I personally feel the night went very well. There were lots of people who got recognized and lots of support for the football team. I feel the night was very busy, especially for cheerleaders, because we had to be at the school around four and then we had to take pictures with all the fire trucks and military vehicles. Overall it was a very successful night and I can not wait to see how next year’s first responders and Armed Forces night grows next year.