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A Chicago high school senior says she was escorted out of her graduation ceremony and had her diploma withheld after dropping into a split while crossing the stage to receive it.
Friends and family packed the Harold Washington Cultural Center to celebrate Chicago Tech Academy’s graduating class, but it was 18-year-old Tyvion Campbell who found herself at the center of attention after a brief moment on stage took an unexpected turn.
As Campbell’s name was called, she walked across the stage, waved to loved ones in the crowd and then dropped into a split before attempting to collect her diploma.
Instead of receiving it, the longtime dancer and cheerleader said she left the ceremony confused, emotional and without the document she had worked four years to earn.
Campbell later told Fox 32 Chicago that the split was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. In fact, the teenager said she had been talking about it for weeks.
“I told my friends, family, and I told my peers, my teachers, I said, ‘I’m gonna do a split on stage,’” the student shared with the outlet. “When I did it, everyone was shocked.”