{"id":22656,"date":"2024-06-04T11:38:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T15:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=22656"},"modified":"2024-06-04T11:38:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T15:38:15","slug":"graduates-diploma-was-withheld-after-he-urged-students-to-accept-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/06\/graduates-diploma-was-withheld-after-he-urged-students-to-accept-christ","title":{"rendered":"Graduate\u2019s Diploma Was Withheld After He Urged Students to Accept Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_22662\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22662\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/06\/student-denied-diploma_credit-Micah-Price-Facebook.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22662\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2024\/06\/student-denied-diploma_credit-Micah-Price-Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22662\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Micah Price \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Campbell County High School graduate Micah Price alleges that his diploma was briefly withheld from him after he went off-script during his graduation speech and encouraged his audience to find Jesus. Superintendent Shelli Wilson stated that Price was chosen by his principal to give his speech and that all speeches have to be approved. According to Wilson, Price was approved to thank his \u201cLord and savior Jesus Christ.\u201d Price, however, chose to go off-script. \u201cHe is the light, he is the way, the truth and the life. Class, everyone in the audience today, I&#8217;m here to tell you if you don&#8217;t have any of those things in your life, you can&#8217;t seem to find the answer, my lord and savior is your answer he will give you the truth, the way and the life,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/us\/kentucky-high-school-student-micah-price-denied-diploma-after-praising-jesus-in-his-off-script-graduation-speech\/ar-BB1njbS3?ocid=BingNewsSerp\">told the crowd<\/a>. Price was confronted by school officials after the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson shared that Price could expect to receive his diploma after a meeting with the principal. \u201cAll speakers were told that going off their submitted speech, or any unplanned choices at graduation, may have repercussions as they would at any school function.\u201d She stated the disciplinary action was in accordance with policy. \u201cWhile I know, personally, that many of us are proud of this young man\u2019s beliefs and are practicing Christians ourselves, the principal has to consider the possibilities of students going off the planned program,\u201d she said. Price shared his situation on TikTok. \u201cI am in the wrong technically, because I went against Campbell County code, the rules,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI do no one\u2019s bidding but God. So, if anyone\u2019s in the wrong, I am. I deserve to get punished,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He also urged his followers to respond to the situation in love. \u201cAnyone who\u2019s taking a hateful route to this. I please ask that you would just take a chill pill, take a time-out, because in 1 John, it talks about how it is absolutely impossible to consider yourself a Christian if you cannot love your brother or your neighbor.\u201d Price was able to receive his diploma after the long holiday weekend. \u201cHolding it is just an answered prayer, that&#8217;s all it is, just an answered prayer,&#8221; Price <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local12.com\/news\/local\/nky-student-gets-diploma-delayed-commencement-speech-god-christian-christianity-micah-price-graduation-graduate-campbell-county-school-district-kentucky\">told a local news outlet<\/a>. Did Price regret the delay? \u201cI would do it again times two.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Campbell County High School graduate Micah Price alleges that his diploma was briefly withheld from him after he went off-script during his graduation speech and encouraged his audience to find Jesus. Superintendent Shelli Wilson stated that Price was chosen by his principal to give his speech and that all speeches have to be approved. According&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":22662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Graduate\u2019s Diploma Was Withheld After He Urged Students to Accept Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"His diploma was briefly withheld after he went off-script during his graduation speech and encouraged his audience to find Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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