A high school valedictorian who made national news and received praise from his state’s governor by talking about coming out as queer in his commencement address, despite his principal’s efforts to silence him, is heading to Tufts University as an incoming freshman.
Only seconds into the address, the principal climbed onto the podium and removed the student’s mic and his copy of the speech, but the student managed to recite it from memory to a standing ovation.
At Tufts’ Medford, Mass. campus, reports The New York Times, Bryce Dershem, the victorious valedictorian from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, New Jersey, “plans to promote the rights of women and L.G.B.T.Q. people.”
Dershem’s speech wasn’t only about coming out but about mental health and personal empowerment issues faced by all of his classmates, LGBTQ+ or otherwise. (You can watch it here.)
Here’s how the Times reports it:
Less than a minute into Bryce Dershem’s valedictorian speech on June 17, the microphone cut out. He had just told the audience at his New Jersey high school’s graduation ceremony that he came out as queer in his freshman year.
When he made that revelation, the principal, Robert M. Tull, went to the back of the stage and appeared to unplug some cords, a video from the ceremony shows.
Suddenly, Mr. Dershem, 18, was silenced. Mr. Tull walked onstage and took the microphone from its stand.
When the principal took the microphone, he also took Mr. Dershem’s prepared remarks.
Mr. Tull pointed to another copy of the speech on the podium that did not have any references to sexuality or mental health.
A replacement microphone was brought to Mr. Dershem, but at that point, he said in an interview on Saturday, he was frozen. Then his classmates at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, N.J., cheered for him to continue his speech.
“As it was happening, passion was surging through my veins that, yes, I need to give this speech,” he said, “because this is the exact kind of stigma that I want to fight against.”
Mr. Dershem knew every word of his own version of the speech, because he had been working on his remarks for a month.
“I tried my very best to give the speech from memory, and I was just a mess throughout the whole speech and I was just so vulnerable,” he said.
But he prevailed.
“Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey” — just one of the Dershem’s many fans — “said on Twitter on Saturday that he was proud of Mr. Dershem for “speaking truth to power, and for your resilience and courage,” reported the Times.
Read the full New York Times story here. And you can watch Valedictorian Bryce Dershem deliver his powerful and inspirational commencement address on YouTube right here.
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