In what is usually a celebratory event, the graduation ceremony at a high school in Wichita, Kansas has been overshadowed by controversy. That’s because the school’s valedictorian was stripped of his title after giving a speech that was longer than expected. Now the internet is banding together to petition the school to reinstate the title.
Austin Tran, valedictorian at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School, said he was asked to return his medal after giving a speech that was not approved by the school administration.
Tran said the version that was approved by the school wasn’t authentic enough, so he changed it at the last minute.
Kansas student has valedictorian title removed after his speech ran long
In a Facebook post after the incident, Tran’s mother, Ann Nguyen Tran, said that her son had “stayed up all night, as he confessed in the speech, to write one that went a little over time so that his sincere message to his classmates could be delivered in the manner and tone that he wanted, ranter than what was dictated.”
The reaction from the community was swift. Almost immediately after learning that the school had taken away Austin’s title, a petition was circulated that garnered about 10,000 signatures.
People mentioned that there was nothing wrong with Austin’s speech, there were no bad words, nor inappropriate topics, and that, in fact, it was quite charming.
“The punishment must fit the offense”, netizens react to Austin’s title being removed
“As an alumni and a member of the staff at this school it’s incredibly disheartening that this situation even exists. I understand that there are rules to be followed but one of the first things that we are taught as teachers is that the punishment must fit the offense. This is not the case here,” one person said.
“A catholic school that preaches continuously on Christian ethics has the audacity to threaten and bully our children…… The entire catholic organization should be so ashamed of stripping Austin of his rightfully earned accomplishment,” said a parent with a child at the school.
“His speech may have been long, but it came from the heart and acknowledged those who mattered to him. Frankly, it’s disappointing and shameful that Bishop Carroll and or the Catholic High School couldn’t find it in themselves to appreciate that.”
School threatens valedictorian after he gave a speech that was “more authentic”
In her Facebook post, Tran’s mother Ann explained how it all went down. Austin had prepared a speech and submitted it to the administration for approval.
The revisions included suggestions to cut the speech because the administration felt it was too long, and to remove a joke about one of the staff possibly falling asleep because the speech was long.
But on the night before graduation, Austin had doubts. He feared the newly revised speech was not authentic enough, and didn’t include enough references to the important people in his life.
So he re-wrote it.
His mother said in her FB post that her son stayed up all night to write a speech, that, while perhaps a bit long, better reflected his true feelings.
“Have you ever written something and later reread it and it doesn’t sound that great? He wanted a personal and authentic speech that’s not AI generated nor compressed into a few minutes,” she wrote.
But the administration at Bishop Carroll Catholic High School was not impressed.
“It will only reflect badly on you”, Austin tells staff after being threatened by Vice Principal
Right before the moment when Austin was slated to give his speech, he was approached by the Vice Principal at the school, Mr. Keaton Mr. McCracken. The VP told Austin to stick with the approved speech or risk getting pulled off the stage. He said “ok”.
However, when he approached the stage to accept his valedictorian medal, Austin told the VP that if he did get pulled off stage that “It will only reflect badly on you.”
Austin went ahead and gave his revised speech. What happened next stunned him, his family, and classmates.
The day after graduation, Austin and his family received an email requesting a meeting with the school to discuss the matter. They agreed, but since they were out of the county, the in-person meeting would have to wait.
A few days later, Austin and his mother opened their emails to find a note from the school explaining that a decision had already been reached on Austin’s punishment. He would need to return his valedictorian medal, and his title of valedictorian would be removed from his diploma and official transcripts. The school said that if he didn’t comply, his diploma would be withheld.
When Austin’s family learned of the school’s decision, they were dismayed. Austin’s mother Ann said that the punishment didn’t seem to fit the crime. “If you get stopped for speeding, they’re not going to take away your car. They’ll give you a ticket,” she told a local TV station
They decided to turn to the internet for support. And they found it in droves.
“If a medal can be taken by arbitrary judgement, then it’s worthless”, former students support Austin
Students and staff began stepping forward to condemn the school’s decision, and in the case of some former students, to return their own academic medals and achievements.
One of Bishop Carroll’s Class of 2003 salutatorians, Zachary Faber, returned his medal, hanging it on the school’s sign in the front courtyard.
“If the medal I received as the salutatorian of Bishop Carroll’s Class of 2003 was not an award recognizing the hard work and dedication it took to earn, but a shiny ornament that can be swiped away by arbitrary, bureaucratic judgment, then it has become worthless,” he told a local news outlet.
Lauren Dean, one of Bishop Carroll’s academic leaders from the Class of 1983, is another alumni who returned her valedictorian medal.
“When I saw that that award can be taken away so easily and for something so arbitrary and capricious, my medal just didn’t have meaning to me anymore and so my reaction was, ‘Austin can have mine,’” Dean said.
So far, the school has not made a statement or commented about the matter.
Image credits: 12 News
Netizens react with support for Austin, outrage at school
