By Emily Proctor & Madison Miazek
The Perspective
Plymouth-Canton HS
1st Place
Division 1, News Writing
News Story
Every morning Plymouth senior Clay Martin heads down to the Plymouth office to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This has been a ritual for Martin since his sophomore year.
However, following the fatal shootings at Pulse Night Club in Orlando last June and his response to them, administration imposed restrictions on Martin’s regular routine.
The Monday following the slaughter of 49 people, Martin went down the office to recite the Pledge, as usual. Before he did so, he asked for a moment of silence from students and staff members and he read a quote from former president Ronald Reagan that he found inspirational and timely.
He concluded by saying, “May God bless the United States and may God bless you all.” This wasn’t the first time Martin said something along those lines. “I do a lot of those kind of speeches like mainly on Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day, just kind of as a little salute to the people overseas,” Martin said.
“I would say something like, ‘God bless our veterans’ and ‘God bless America.’” The next day Martin went down to say the Pledge once again, but beforehand,
Plymouth Principal Cheri Steckel pulled him aside. “Ms.Steckel talked to me in her office and said, ‘I really enjoyed your speech,’ and then said, ‘We don’t want to say, ‘May God bless you all,’ because not everyone is Christian.’”
Martin respected Steckel’s reasoning.