Ever Lopez Was Denied His High School Diploma After Wearing a Mexican Flag to His Graduation
A high school principal in North Carolina came under fire after she denied a graduating senior his diploma for wearing a Mexican flag to graduation. Now, thanks to the story going viral, and a Change.org petition, 18-year-old Ever Martinez Lopez has received his diploma.
Last Thursday, Ever walked up to the podium at Asheboro High School with the flag draped around his graduation gown, expecting to receive his diploma and become the first person in his immediate family to graduate from high school. In a video, you can see him getting stopped by the school principal, Penny Crooks, as the audience starts booing incessantly.
According to Ever's cousin, Adolfo Hurtado, who posted the video on both TikTok and Twitter, Ever was denied his diploma for "causing a 'disturbance' to the graduation ceremony." Adolfo claims that Penny asked Ever to take off the flag, when he started to, the crowd began to boo, which caused Ever to put the flag back on. At that point, Penny handed him an empty diploma holder, which is customary. Later, though, when Ever went to get his actual diploma following the graduation ceremony, he was reportedly denied it.
Another video posted by Adolfo shows a confrontation occurring between Penny, some police officers, and some supporters of Ever, seemingly following the ceremony when Ever was denied the diploma. In the video shown below, Penny says Ever can come back tomorrow with his parents to discuss the situation.
The next day, there was a small protest, where students wore the Mexican flag and asked the school to "free Ever's diploma." A petition was then made on Change.org, which gained over 100,000 signatures.
A statement on the Asheboro City Schools website stated that Ever did not receive his diploma because he "did not follow the established dress code for the event and detracted from the importance and the solemnity of the ceremony." It also expressed that the incident has "been misrepresented across a number of social media platforms." In another TikTok, however, Adolfo showed the school's dress code, which doesn't say anything about covering up the gown with a flag.
On Monday, Ever finally received his diploma. Asheboro City Schools posted another statement, which read, "As with all graduates, we wish him well and we will continue to serve our community in ways that help all young people meet their full potential." They also said they will be reevaluating their dress code " for future senior classes in light of the situation."
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