Despite training to serve her country, one student was told by officials in her school that she could not walk when her class graduated high school.
But her fellow students brought her out to walk anyway.
According to a Facebook post from Lisa Klein posted Friday, a student she referred to as Megan the Marine was not allowed to walk at her graduation from McHenry Community High School District 156.
Pvt. Megan Howerton was not allowed to walk at her Thursday graduation because she chose to wear her U.S. Marine Corps dress blues and not the required cap and gown.
"I do not want the controversy that is saturating social media, and I do not want to draw attention away from the Class of 2016," Howerton told Northwest Herald Friday. "That being said, it was my choice not to participate in the graduation."
Video posted by Klein shows Howerton being cheered on and encouraged by her fellow classmates.
The Northwest Herald reported that Colin Brennan, an active-duty Marine and 2014 McHenry West graduate, said it was "unfair to the district to be looked at so negatively by the entire community for following a rule."
Klein said that although Howerton was unable to walk at graduation and her name was not called, she received her diploma after the ceremony with the other students.
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