School district reverses decision to exclude student who died of cancer from graduation
A school district in Utah has reversed a decision not to include a student who died from cancer in its graduation ceremony.
Samantha 'Mantha' Corey passed away from rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of soft tissue cancer which commonly affects children, just three months before she was due to finish her senior year.
Mantha's family had hoped that they would be able to celebrate the educational milestone with her at American Fork High School, but tragically the 18-year-old did not survive to see the graduation.
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Initially, Mantha's family were told that she would not be able to posthumously graduate at the school despite having met the all the requirements to do so.
The decision sparked fury from the community.
However, six days after the initial decision, the school has reversed the decision and announced Mantha will be able to graduate.
Speaking to the New York Post, her mom Kimberly Corey said: “This is a milestone that we were hoping with her medical team that she could make it to - after she started relapsing, we were really hoping she could make it through graduation.”
She added: “So for us, it feels like this goal that we all kind of banded together and accomplished together. She was so close. So close.”
Mantha's siblings will be allowed to walk across the stage and collect her diploma on her behalf.
The school's principal had solemnly handed Kimberly Mantha's diploma when he broke the initial news.
Had the decision not been reversed not only would her name not have been read out, her mom said, but she would not have appeared in the high school yearbook either.
Kimberly said: “Anything that drew attention to her after she passed was not allowed."
Explaining why it had initially made the decision not to include Mantha in the graduation, the Alpine School District cited a new policy.
This prevented staff and students from feeling 'pressured to participate' in a memorial.
The decision was changed after furious members of the community demanded a reversal at a board meeting and flooded the district's social media pages.
One user slammed the school, writing that the decision was 'not only causing her family grief but also not allowing her classmates the opportunity to honor her memory'.
In a statement the district said: “Samantha was loved by her classmates, teachers and school staff. She will be recognized at the school’s graduation ceremony Wednesday, May 22 at the Marriott Center in Provo.
“We look forward to celebrating the accomplishment of Samantha and all of our other remarkable students who have achieved so much.”
Kimberly reflected: “I think this is just the icing on the cake that we were able to do this. I don’t think she would want us to fight and yell and get angry. She’s just like a happy, sweet, fly-under-the-radar kind of gal.”
Kit Roberts