FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 / Perfect Attendance 2009
After 12 years of public school, 71 South Carolina seniors still ‘perfect’
COLUMBIA – Seventy-one South Carolina high school seniors in this year’s graduating class have gone to school through their entire academic careers without missing a single day.
The students are among more than 40,000 seniors who are being honored at commencement ceremonies across the state as the 2009-10 school year winds down.
“This achievement never ceases to amaze me,” said State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. “Twelve years, 2,160 consecutive days, and not a single absence. That’s really something.”
Rex credited the students’ determination and hard work, but also the support they received from their families. “This doesn’t happen by accident,” he said.
Not missing a day of school was worth a new car for Lakewood High School senior Dwayne Geordan Geddings, who won the automobile in a contest for students with perfect attendance. The contest began last fall, when students from 58 schools in 10 counties learned that going to school every day would make them eligible to win a new 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt sedan. Created by Chevrolet and midlands Chevy dealers, the initiative was called “Drive for Perfection.”
The Class of 2009 includes a set of twins with 12 years of perfect attendance – Stephanie Marie Jennings and her brother, Stephen Lee Jennings – who leave Union High School with records unblemished by absence. The state also had “perfect” twins graduating in 2005 from Aiken County’s Midland Valley High and in 2006 from Gaffney High School in Cherokee County.
Since 1979, seniors with 12 years of perfect school attendance have been recognized by the South Carolina Department of Education. They receive certificates and congratulatory letters from Dr. Rex’s office.
This year’s 71 “perfect” students are from districts and high schools both large and small. Greenville, the state’s largest district, has the most students graduating with perfect attendance with 10, including four at Mauldin High School. Three other schools also boast of four “perfect” students each – Walhalla Senior High in Oconee County, Dorman High in Spartanburg School District Six and Sumter High in Sumter District 17.
Pete Pillow
Public Information Associate
Office of Communications
South Carolina Department of Education
1429 Senate Street
Columbia, SC 29201
803-734-8374 | phone
803-734-3389 | fax
pkpillow@ed.sc.gov
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