EAST LIVERPOOL, OH (WCMH) — For 70 years, students at East Liverpool High School sang the Lord’s Prayer at graduation, but this year they were told they couldn’t carry on the tradition. They did it anyway.

According to WTOV, the Freedom from Religion Foundation contacted administrators with the East Liverpool High School that the song, traditionally sung by the choir, needed to be removed from the ceremony.

Rather than go through a legal battle, the school district removed the song, but the students had other plans.

“We’re really big at traditions at this school and I think it would’ve been nice to have the same as my brother had whenever he graduated,” Cami Post, class of 2016 vice president told WTOV before the ceremony. But it seems the students had developed a plan to carry on the tradition, despite orders not to do so.

When class Valedictorian Jonathan Montgomery took the stage, he led the entire graduating class in reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

Soon, there was a standing ovation for the graduating students of East Liverpool that stood up for their tradition.What others are clicking on: