GRADUATES OF CENTRAL PRAY AT CEREMONY

Cape Girardeau Central High School graduates recited the Lord's Prayer at commencement Friday.

At the beginning of the program, when Principal Dan Milligan asked everyone to be seated, students remained standing and recited the prayer.

It started softly but gained momentum. At the end, many students and guests applauded and cheered.

Mendi Ferguson Crowell lead the effort to have a prayer at the ceremony, despite a Supreme Court ruling against prayer at graduation. Local school administrators, acting on legal advice, planned no prayer.

A letter was mailed to seniors earlier in the week outlining the procedure for saying the prayer, and even included the words.

"I think it went really well," said Crowell. "We got a lot of positive feedback from parents and others afterwards. We didn't hear anything negative."

James Englehart, director of secondary education, said, "We had a number of parents who weren't happy and another group who were happy."

Englehart said at least seven parents lodged complaints with individual school representatives following the ceremony about the prayer. "They didn't think that was the proper setting," Englehart explained.

"The school system really feels obligated to provide experiences for young people that we think are legal," he said. "We tried to do that. But a group of people choose to go ahead with this."