The Port Allegany High School and the Otto-Eldred High School have both announced that the Class of 2023 will hold commencement exercises at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 2.
Port Allegany will have student speakers at commencement. Otto-Eldred will have a guest speaker.
The Port Allegany High School Class of 2023 graduation speakers plan to talk about TIME.
Madelynn Triplett will speak about being Tenacious; while Shane Lawton will speak on Individuality. Salutatorian Olivia Schott is speaking on Memories. And then, Valedictorian Thea Petruzzi, who is also the 2023 class president, will speak about Empathy. She will also give the welcome address.
High School Principal Marc Budd will announce the graduates and Port Allegany School District Superintendent Gary Buchsen will award the diplomas. The Commencement Band under the direction of Brad Stewart, will provide music. Senior Class Advisors are Penny Peine and Seth Lowery.
Graduate of the Otto-Eldred Class of 1994, Julie (Bennett) LaBella, will be the guest speaker on Friday for the Otto-Eldred commencement.
She is the Vice President of Regulatory and External Affairs at Talen Energy, responsible for overseeing the company’s external messaging, including corporate communications and marketing, and leading the advocacy efforts related to state and federal-level policy.
LaBella has more than two decades of experience in the energy industry. In addition to her current responsibilities, she has served in a leadership position in the areas of commodity risk management, compliance, and financial analysis. She began her career at PPL Corporation, where she spent nearly 15 years as a leader within corporate risk management, providing oversight for commodity risk and its enterprise risk management function. She continued in that role with Talen Energy in 2015.
LaBella later transitioned into a leadership position within Talen’s regulatory and external affairs department. Her primary focus includes leading advocacy efforts and driving policy solutions to promote and protect the interests of the company and its 16 generating facilities in six states and four of the country’s largest regional transmission organizations. She also serves as co-chair of the company’s nuclear decommissioning trust committee which provides oversight and guidance on the investment activities of the fund.
LaBella holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in business administration, finance and accounting from St. Bonaventure University.
Active in the community, she currently serves on the Board of Directors, as treasurer, and the Finance Committee at the Third Street Alliance for Women and Children.
Otto-Eldred has also named their three mantle winners. For academics, Katherine Sheeler; career and technical, Marshall Ebert; and for agricultural sciences, Sarah Beaver.
