by Alex Lloyd Gross
June 17, 2023
A Philadelphia high school and it’s principal have been going viral for all the wrong reasons. During a recent graduation at the Philadelphia High School For Girls, Principal Lisa Mesi refused to hand over the earned diploma for graduate Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, 17. The reason? Her parents clapped for her when she danced across the stage to get her diploma. 12 years of hard work down the drain, due to draconian rules put in place that most people think makes no sense.
For some a high school graduation is expected. It is also expected that the student will get into an Ivy League school where they will get their Doctorate in a few years. Some families have never had a member of their family graduate high school and for them it is a very big deal. Their parents are proud of them and will show it. For most graduations the applause and yelling is expected. To punish a student by withholding their diploma because a family member cheered for them is enough for this story to start to go viral, as well as the school and Mesi are being ridiculed all over the globe.
As soon as Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, got to Mesi on stage she was told her diploma would be given to her after the ceremony, which it was. This resulted in Hafsah Abdur-Rahman, crying at her graduation. Not only the school and principal were being criticized all over the globe, but the School District of Philadelphia as well. They have no such policy and they insist the policy was exclusive to girls high and hot sanctioned by the district. They issued a statement which reads:: “The District does not condone the withholding of earned diplomas based on family members cheering for their graduates.
“We apologize to all the families and graduates who were impacted and are further looking into this matter to avoid it happening in the future.”