Based on advice contained in letter from Liberty Counsel, and with legal precedents on his side, the valedictorian respectfully appealed to keep the speech unchanged. The school district ultimately permitted the student to keep all of his religious references intact whereby the valedictorian delivered a moving, faith-filled speech.
In the speech, the valedictorian spoke about the adversity he had faced due to several medical conditions, one of them life threatening. From a portion of the speech originally lined out at the behest of the school district, the valedictorian said, “I want to thank my Lord Jesus Christ for getting me through because if it weren’t for Him, I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through life…Jesus Christ has always loved me.”
