A high school senior near Buffalo, New York, has won after pushing back against her public school’s decision not to allow her to decorate her paid parking spot with Christian references.
Sabrina Steffans’ original designs for her senior parking place were rejected, but when First Liberty Institute stepped in to join the fight, the Grand Island Central School District reversed course, CBN News reported Wednesday.
After the school district was threatened with litigation, they decided Steffans is free to use a religious design on school property.
Steffans said she initially entered three of her drawings, noting “the first drawing was a drawing of this mountain called Salvation Mountain. And when I handed it in, they said… completely no to it because it had crosses, a Bible verse, and just a lot of religion that they said that wasn’t allowed.”
Her final drawing was accepted but it did not feature any religious elements. That was when she contacted First Liberty, which sent a demand letter to the district addressing the issue. She was then approved to use her original design, according to WKBW.
Keisha Russell, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said the firm was pleased about the school district’s reversal, adding, “The First Amendment protects students’ private expressions of faith in public schools.”
Steffans was glad for the final decision and realizes age does not matter when it comes to doing the right thing.
“Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you don’t have power to bring change into your schools and into your life,” she stated, adding, “I was shocked that they even picked the very first one of all of them, so I was just really ecstatic to hear it. I was kind of freaking out, thinking, ‘Oh, this is so exciting!’ I got the paints the day of, and I was just so excited to paint and everything.”
In a social media post on Saturday, Rev. Franklin Graham praised the teenager for her “desire to share God’s love” with other people.
First Liberty noted that Steffans leads a Bible club at the school and expresses her Christian faith through art.
