It’s a great feeling to walk across the stage after putting in a lot of hard work during the school year. It’s also a bit hard to contain your excitement when the big day finally comes.
However, for one Philly student who couldn’t wait to celebrate after graduation, faced immediate consequences during her ceremony. 17-year-old senior Hafsah Abdul-Rahman was in the middle of walking across the stage at her ceremony last Friday when something unexpected happened. As her name was called, she danced and hit the popular move called the “Griddy.” The dance drew some laughter from part of the crowd. However, her principal did not seem too amused.
A video taken by attendees shows Abdul-Rahman reaching her hand out to accept her diploma but the school’s principal just shakes her head and throws it in a basket instead. Abdul-Rahman walks away as others appeared to be left in shock. Abdul-Rahman spoke with NBC Philadelphia and shared that she eventually received her diploma off-stage. However, she doesn’t believe it was fair to be penalized for her dance or embarrassed.
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Recalling the moment, Abdul-Rahman said her principal “was like, ‘You’re not getting your diploma because you made the crowd chuckle,’” Abdul-Rahman told the outlet. “It was like she was going to give it to me but she took it right back. It was just embarrassing. She didn’t have to do that.”
Now, Abdul-Rahman said was fully aware of the school’s rule for families to not cheer, clap or even shout while students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. She even warned her family not to do so. Although she knew that, she couldn’t help but burst into celebration at that very moment.
“I didn’t feel like I broke any of the rules because she didn’t say this prior to the graduation that you can’t do this walking across the stage,” Abdul-Rahman said. “She just said our families cannot cheer for us. And my family didn’t cheer.”
Speaking more about the moment that left her in tears, the teen told ABC7 Chicago, “If they thought that I shouldn’t do ‘The Griddy’ across the stage and do the Girls’ High traditions, nobody should have been able to wave or blow kisses or do period signs because I feel like that’s the same thing. I feel like that’s unfair,” said Abdur-Rahman. “I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t even enjoy the rest of the graduation,” said Abdur-Rahman.
The School District of Philadelphia released a statement explaining, “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.”
Abdur-Rahman said the assistant superintendent of the school has also once reached out to her and her mother apologizing for their experience and offering to talk further.
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