Valedictorian Criticizes School Staff at Graduation Speech, Is Told to Stop Speaking

‘A lack of real student government — and the authoritative nature that a few administrators and school members have — prevents students from developing as true leaders’

Wyoming Area grad's cut speech grabs national attention (The Times Tribune)

Peter Butera — the valedictorian and president of Wyoming Area’s Class of 2017 — had no idea he would be getting this much media attention when he went off script during his graduation speech Friday.

Just after he began to criticize school officials for being dictatorial, Wyoming Area Secondary School Principal Jon Pollard approached Butera to leave the stage at Sobieski Stadium, and his microphone went off.

National and international media picked up the story about the speech after an article about it appeared Monday in The Citizens’ Voice and The Times-Tribune.

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact