Marriage Proposal During HS Graduation NOT a Prank
Ok readers time for a math quiz. Let’s assume the seniors are 18 now, if their child is 16 months old and assuming the pregnancy was healthy and normal, how old was the young lady when she got inseminated? Extra credit, what grade would she have been in?
No seriously, I’m asking for real, I’ve had an amazingly long weekend and need more coffee, more sleep and more time in the day and in my life to fit in all the wonderfulness.
New Directions School in Texas
The Class of 2009 marks graduation
By SANDRA ENGELLAND | Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009 | www.kellercitizen.com
Keller district seniors celebrated the end of their high school days in various ways over the last week.
Graduation for most Class of 2009 members took place Saturday at the Tarrant County Convention Center in downtown Fort Worth.
The district’s smallest spring commencement was perhaps the most eventful. Jerad Markham, a graduating senior from New Directions High School, proposed to fellow student Stephanie Feidler in front of the crowd near the end of festivities Thursday in the Rock Gym in Keller.
“I couldn’t think of any better way to propose because the whole staff at New Directions has been so supportive of us, and my whole family was there,” Markham said.
Markham had planned with Principal Kenneth Anderson to pop the question as part of the ceremony. After handing out diplomas, Anderson called Markham up to the microphone to talk about the importance of relationships. Markham asked Feidler to join him, went down on one knee and pulled out a ring.
Smiling through happy tears, Feidler said, “Yes.”
The two teens have been dating for several years and have a 16-month-old daughter, Emily.
Anderson said he had several discussions with Markham in recent weeks, and the student said he wanted to take responsibility for his life and family and to make some positive changes. He has enlisted in the Army and said both he and his fiancée plan to continue their educations beyond high school.
Anderson said the district’s alternative education program had 21 spring graduates, the most ever. The school is geared towards at-risk students who choose to attend. They can work on an accelerated program or receive individual instruction to help them graduate on time. The school also offers special assistance to teen parents.
“The kids are so excited about getting to this point. Many of them have stumbled and they’ve picked themselves back up to where there are open doors to their future,” Anderson said.
Many of the New Directions graduates plan to go to Tarrant County College but others have been admitted to the University of Texas, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of North Texas and Texas State University.