Yahoo News is reporting that an Oklahoma high school is refusing to give its valedictorian her diploma because she used the word “Hell” in her speech.
Seriously.
Here’s the details:
Kaitlin Nootbaar graduated from Prague High School with a 4.0 grade point average, her father, David Nootbaar, told KFOR-TV. But school administrators told him that Kaitlin would have to submit a written apology in order to get her diploma.
“We went to the office and asked for the diploma and the principal said, ‘Your diploma is right here but you’re not getting it. Close the door, we have a problem,'” David Nootbaar told the network.
“She worked so hard to stay at the top of her class,” he said. “This is not right.”
In her speech—inspired by a similar address in “Eclipse: The Twilight Saga”—Kaitlin recounted how annoying it is to be constantly asked what she wants to do as graduation approached. “How the hell do I know?” she said, according to her father. “I’ve changed my mind so many times.”
In the version she submitted to the school for approval, “hell” was “heck.” But in the version she delivered at graduation, “hell” it was.
OK. Firstly this school should be ashamed. Not because the girl dropped the h-e double hockey sticks on everyone or because of this strict punishment. But because its valedictorian modeled her speech after the “Twilight” movie. Dude. Your valedictorian couldn’t come up with a decent speech on her own and decided to plagiarize “Twilight?” Twilight?
That is a pretty stiff punishment though. I’d imagine that at most public schools the punishment would’ve been a lot worse if she’d mentioned heaven. Probably a lot worse.
