Othello valedictorian talks about interrupted speech

OTHELLO — Andrew Chen said he knew that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to finish his high school valedictory speech.

Chen, the Othello High School valedictorian for 2018, said he was not being censored during last week’s graduation ceremony when OHS Principal Alejandro Vergara stopped him in what appeared to be mid-speech.

It wasn’t, Chen said. He had finished with his prepared and approved speech, and was launching into another, unapproved speech when district officials moved to silence him.

“I knew I was going to be taken down,” Chen said. “I think I got my point across.”

Chen said the speech he had initially prepared for graduation – what he called “the original original” – was about depression and suicide.

“It was targeted toward the fears that some who are depressed or suicidal might have,” he said. “Graduation was appropriate for that because it sets us up for the future.”

According to Chen, when he submitted the first draft of the speech, no one said much of anything to him about the subject matter or the content of the speech. But the speech did arouse some concerns, and eventually made its way to the school board, Chen said.

“They deemed it inappropriate. The topic itself was inappropriate,” he explained. “In terms of describing how people might feel, it was very explicit.”

It was at that point, Chen said, that school board members decided the speech was a cry for help. Which it wasn’t, Chen said. He’s had his struggles, though Chen would not be specific except to say he would eventually release the original speech as a video on Facebook, and wanted to use his struggles as a way of inspiring others.

“From the way I bettered myself, I wanted to help others. It was meant to be a hopeful message,” he said.

While fear can paralyze and keep us trapped, Chen also said in his graduation speech that fear can inspire us to grow, move on and become better people.

He is grateful that despite all the difficulties, the school district didn’t give up on him. In fact, he said he appreciated the direct way superintendent Chris Hurst spoke with him.

“The superintendent was blunt, and he said the topic was inappropriate,” Chen said. “I appreciated his bluntness, because everyone danced around it.”

Chen said the difficulties he faced with the speech were similar to those he and some high school friends had crafting morning video announcements.

“They were meant to be entertaining, but the jokes were deemed not appropriate for some. We had to do multiple revisions of certain videos,” Chen said.

He says he is thankful for all the community support, but he’s also disconcerted about the anger aimed at school officials. They aren’t the problem, Chen said, but rather a mindset in which people are too easily offended and in which everyone has to constantly be careful about they say.

“If we look toward ourselves, we can better ourselves, and better the community as well,” he said. “I really appreciate the community for supporting me, but it would be better to look at self-improvement rather than outputting that anger to the school.”

“That unsettles me a bit,” he added.

He still believes that graduation was a good venue for a speech on depression and suicide despite all that happened.

“I still believe this is a message everyone needs to hear,” Chen said.

And he’s still headed off to the University of Washington in the fall to study either art or education. Chen said he’s not sure which.

“If I go into education, I guess I’ll have to deal with administrators,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.