By Matt Wiley
Graduation ceremonies can be pretty similar to one another. The principal gives a welcome address, followed by either the salutatorian and valedictorian or vice-versa, before the graduating students cross the stage to collect their diplomas.
However, on June 3, during the graduation ceremony for New Tampa’s Paul R. Wharton High, something peculiar happened: the salutatorian’s microphone was turned off before the honoree had finished delivering his speech, and the reasons for doing so are still not completely clear.
Harold Shaw, Jr., a 17-year-old prospective University of Florida (UF) film student, approached the podium as Wharton’s salutatorian with a 7.31 GPA and began his speech. Before beginning, he removed his cap. The version of the speech that Shaw began to deliver to the crowd of classmates and their families inside the expo center at the Florida State Fairgrounds was the third draft he had been instructed to write and submit to the school for approval.
