Posted on 06/08/2009 8:14:32 AM PDT by buzzyboop
Jordan Gruber was right: Grove City Area High School officials could not hold him to three minutes.
The school valedictorian — who fought a ban on farewell addresses at commencement ceremonies and was granted three minutes to deliver his speech — took the podium Friday night, opened with a joke that he would rather be fishing, then segued into a 6 1/2-minute speech that touched on themes including freedom, patriotism and religion.
"Being an American is a privilege that has been granted to us, not earned by us," Gruber said. "I thank God that our forefathers thought it worth their lives to make us Americans. This was their dream, that we, their children, would be born free."
Gruber maintained a 4.0 grade point average while serving as captain of the football and track teams. On July 1, he will take his oath at the Naval Academy in Maryland.
But he was disappointed to learn that district officials had banned valedictory speeches after the 2006-07 school year.
Principal Rae Lin Howard and district Superintendent Robert Post said the ban was designed to keep ceremonies from running too long. Religion also played a part: Past speeches included strong religious themes, and when Gruber won school officials' approval to deliver his speech, Howard warned him not to "proselytize."
During his speech, Gruber did not shy away from potentially sensitive topics.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Nice to see not all the youth are under the spell of Hollywierd, MTV, and MSNBC.
I’m impressed!
It sounds like Principal Rae Lin Howard and district Superintendent Robert Post are going to have to re-impose the ban on valedictory speeches.
Here is one young man the libs didn’t destroy. His parents have done a grand job of keeping him so level headed.
You won’t see any bright, articulate young liberals darkening stages of High school commencements. All the idealistic intelligent liberals were residing in the backs of abortion dumpsters around 1991.
The kids that take drugs are, because to the drug-addled mind, liberal insanity makes sense to them.
Kids who are sober aren't buying the BS.
I challenge you to question the supposed truths that you have been fed from textbooks, television, Internet and other media," he said. "I challenge you to seek truth. I challenge you to give all men, even those unborn, the same inalienable rights to life. And I remind you that the denial of the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have been justification for wars."
What an excellent address...
The excuses given for not allowing the valedictorian to address the attendees were very lame. Oh we can’t have them preaching? Oh that three minutes just makes the program too long?
Give me a break. Who should have a voice at such events, if the valedictorian for the class didn’t?
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