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A high school student's diploma was delayed after he asked his classmates to "find Christ" in his graduation speech on Friday, May 24.
Knewz.com has learned that the incident occurred at the Campbell County High School in Kentucky.
Shelli Wilson, the superintendent of the high school, stated that the speech Micah Price delivered at the graduation ceremony was not the version that was approved by school authorities.
According to Wilson, Price was chosen by his principal to deliver the commencement speech at the high school graduation ceremony.
However, the speeches have to be approved by the administrators of Campbell County High School before students deliver them.
Wilson told the news outlet Local12 that according to the version of Price's speech that was approved, he was supposed to thank his "lord and savior Jesus Christ" at the beginning and then continue with the prepared speech.
However, Price went off-script and went on to encourage his classmates to "find Christ" instead.
"He is the light, he is the way, the truth, and the life... 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," Price said in his speech, paraphrasing John 14:6.
As a result, the school authorities withheld his diploma for five days as a form of disciplinary action.
"All 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," the school superintendent told the local news outlet in a statement.
"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 added.
Price has been rather vocal about the incident on social media, and has owned up to his transgression of school rules.
"I am in the wrong technically, because I went against Campbell County code, the rules," he said on TikTok.
"I was told beforehand I wasn't allowed to bring up Christ, that He is the way, the truth, and the life in my speech," he added in another video.
"I did anyways, and after the speech was over, one of the principals came and tapped me on the shoulder very politely and professionally and told me I was going to have to go in front of the board and explain what I did because I went off script."
Price also addressed the issue that the disciplinary action taken against him has sparked a heated online debate and that many have threatened school leaders over delaying his high school diploma.
"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," he said on social media, per Local12.