A school has sparked widespread outrage after teachers named a student “most likely to become a terrorist” in a mock awards ceremony.
Lizeth Villanueva, a 13-year-old pupil at Anthony Aguirre Junior High School in Texas, said she was “shocked” when she was given a signed certificate at the presentation.
The seventh-grade student told KHOU teachers were laughing about the award: “They just found it a joke.”
Speaking about the teacher who gave her the certificate, Villanueva said: “She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn’t really care about our feelings.”
The teen, who is reportedly an honour student at the school, was given the award just one day after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena.
According to the Washington Post, other awards included “most likely to cry for every little thing” and “most likely to become homeless”.
Now Villanueva and her mother Ena Hernandez say the teacher should be fired over the incident.
“It doesn’t look good at all, especially coming from a teacher, a grown-up woman,” Hernandez said.
“It doesn’t look good because everything that’s going on right now.”
The incident led to anger on social media after photos of the student and the certificate were shared by a local journalist:
The middle school is now set to launch an investigation.
Apologising for the incident over Twitter, principal Eric Lathan called the mock awards “insensitive and offensive”, adding that they had been handed out after the school’s real award ceremony had ended.
“As principal, I want to assure all students, parents and community members that these award statements and ideals are NOT representative of the Aguirre vision, mission and educational goals for its students.”