Warwick student-parent told she can’t walk across stage at graduation with her son

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — A high school student-parent in Warwick is graduating Wednesday, and all she wants is to walk across the stage with her son.

Valerie Landry gave birth to her son, Grayson, in December of 2022, when she was 16 years old.

“He’s one of my biggest achievements in high school. It took a lot, and I’m very proud of him,” Landry said. “It’s one of my biggest things, and I’d be honored to have him up on stage with me just to show everybody that you can push through anything.”

Landry, a varsity athlete, will graduate from Pilgrim High School with high honors.

Grayson was born with a cleft palate and just had his final surgery last week.

It has been a rollercoaster over the last couple of years for Landry.

At one point, she had to switch to half-days at school, because she said she was getting bullied by some of her peers.

Through it all though, Landry never gave up, which is something her mom admires about her.

“I have to give her a lot of credit, because if I was in her shoes I would’ve never followed through,” Janine Landry said. “I would’ve dropped out of school, but she chose everyday to come to school and to get to where she’s out, and I’m proud of her.”

Regardless, Landry has been told she can’t walk across the stage with her son, which also happened to Grayson’s father, Jacob Waldron, when he graduated at another school last year.

“I think its really unfair actually,” Waldron said. “I feel like you should be able to. I see other schools doing it so why can’t she?”

In a statement, Superintendent Lynn Dambruch said:

“On behalf of our Pilgrim High School and Warwick Public Schools community, I offer our sincere congratulations to all of our talented graduates this year – many who demonstrated resilience and success throughout their unique journeys to this milestone, like our impressive student-parent Pilgrim graduate. Warwick Public Schools has a long-standing tradition of recognizing the accomplishments of each one of our individual students at each high school’s graduation. To that end, we only allow students to participate in commencement ceremonies, as we receive many requests for families and supporters to participate, too. We recognize and appreciate the families and support systems behind every student, and appreciate what a monumental moment this is for each graduate. We wish all of our Warwick graduates ongoing success in their next chapter.”

Landry said she still plans to walk across the stage with her son.

“I do plan to walk tomorrow, and I am going to have him with me,” Landry said. “I spoke with them and asked what would happen, and they didn’t really give me anything, but at this point I passed all by classes, finished my senior project with honorable mention, so we’ll see what happens.”

Landry said she would like to work for Electric Boat or go to trade school after graduation.