Marion County Schools refuses to let sister receive honorary degree for teen who died

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A Marion County family was reeling Tuesday after learning that they wouldn’t be able to have someone walk across the stage during graduation to pick up an honorary diploma for Nikki Collins, who died in December.

Collins’ family had asked that her sister, Summer Lynn, walk in her place during the Bellview High School graduation to receive her diploma.

The district, though, refused to allow her to walk in memory of her sister, saying it would set a precedent.

“It’s the only thing she wanted,” Lynn said. “She worked so hard, day in and day out.”

The pair’s mother, Roxanne Collins, said she couldn’t believe the district couldn’t make an exception in this case.

“This is her big sister carrying out her little sister’s final wish,” she said.

The district said that only graduates who have fulfilled the requirements to earn a diploma can walk during graduation.

She will be honored in other ways, though, district spokesman Kevin Christian said.

"The graduation ceremony itself with start with her name being announced and a moment of silence in her honor,” he said. “Her name will also be announced when her fellow classmates come across the stage.”

Nikki Collins’ family is still hopeful that administrators will change their minds, and even has the cap and gown she would have worn.

“It’s the last that can be fought for, for my sister,” Lynn said.

Cox Media Group