Editor’s note: Katie Hill is a transgender teen from Bixby whose story was chronicled in an award-winning Tulsa World series in May 2011, “Becoming Katie.”

BIXBY — The graduating seniors at Bixby High School walk to their seats in the Mabee Center under a sword salute by the Marine Corps Junior ROTC students of Lt. Col. Randy Hill’s class.

Fashion among Bixby’s senior class girls dictates many wear neon-hued platform stilettos with their Spartan blue graduation gowns and caps.

About one-third of the way through the alphabet, Hill’s daughter, Katie, glides across the stage, and the school administrators offer her a steadying hand down the stairs, as they do for every senior girl — even though Katie is wearing sparkly flat sandals.