O Captain My Captain. All hail Peter Butera.
The spirit of Dead Poets Society (and a bit of The Breakfast Club) is alive and well in Peter Butera.
The class president of Wyoming Area’s class of 2017 used his valedictorian speech to accuse the school’s authorities of stifling leadership and preventing students from realising their potential.
“Despite some of the outstanding people in this school, 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. Hopefully, this will change…” and at that point the audio was cut.
Butera was happy with his contribution despite being silenced.
https://twitter.com/PeterButera3/status/876094248168419328
“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” the 18-year-old. “I got my point across and them cutting the microphone proved my point to be true.”
Wyoming Area Superintendent Janet Serino explained that Butera’s decision to go off script was the reason his speech was nixed.
“The speech was changed as it was being given,” she said in an email.
Butera, however, felt that if he had started randomly praising the school’s authorities, the power to his microphone would not have been cut.
“I assume if I went off script and praised the administration it would not have gotten pulled,” said Butera, the son of local attorney Michael Butera.
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