A Kentucky high school student didn’t get his diploma at his graduation ceremony after he went off-script during his commencement speech and evangelized to his audience, urging them to find god.
Campbell County High School administrators had approved Micah Price’s speech, as they do all speeches delivered at commencement, in which he would thank his ‘lord and savior Jesus Christ” at the beginning, WKRC reported. But he didn’t stop there.
“He is the light, he is the way, the truth and the life,” Price said. “Class, everyone in the audience today, I’m here to tell you if you don’t have any of those things in your life, you can’t seem to find the answer, my lord and savior is your answer he will give you the truth, the way and the life.”
Campbell County Superintendent Shelli Wilson said Price has graduated and will receive his piece of paper diploma after he meets with his school principal later this week. The principal has not, she said, asked that he meet with the school board, as some national media outlets reported.
Price has declined to speak to media but has made multiple TikTok videos about the incident.
“I am in the wrong technically, because I went against Campbell County code, the rules,” Price said in one of his videos.
In another he asked people who have been threatening school leaders over the incident to stop.
“Anyone that’s taking a hateful route to this I please ask just you know, take a chill pill, take a time out because in John 1, it talks about how it is absolutely impossible to say you’re a Christian if you don’t love your brother or your neighbor,” Price said.
“If you truly consider yourself a Christian, be loving and pray for me, that’s all I need but thank you for the support, thanks for the support, we will get the diploma, everything’s going to be fine,” Price said.
Wilson said it’s standard practice to approve the speeches students deliver. They are rehearsed ahead of time.
“While I know, personally, that many of us are proud of this young man’s beliefs and are practicing Christians ourselves, the principal has to consider the possibilities of students going off the planned program,” she said.
Wilson emphasized that Price’s Christian message was not the target of the policy.
“Off program choices such as speeches, signs, caps, etc. in support of any cause, any religion, injecting inappropriate langue, political election statements, etc., could lead to something other than this outpouring of Christian faith,” she said in a letter to one of the Price’s complaining supporters. “We want to be able to offer the opportunity for students in the future to be able to give opening and closing remark speeches.”
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: WKRC screenshot]
