Hollister
– As a kindergartner, Andres Martinez went to school at Gabilan
Hills every day, backpack in tow.
Hollister – As a kindergartner, Andres Martinez went to school at Gabilan Hills every day, backpack in tow.
Martinez never missed a single day of kindergarten, and then never missed a single day of first grade.
Thirteen years later, the 18-year old senior at San Benito High School has still never missed a day of school. When the time comes for him to graduate on June 8, Martinez will have been in class on time every day for 2,340 school days.
No sick days, no tardies and no truancies.
While Martinez managed to have perfect attendance for his entire academic career, six of his classmates at San Benito High School are being honored along with him for having perfect attendance throughout their four years of high school.
“The school is extremely proud of them. They’re exceptional kids,” Student Services Support Manager Shelly Maupin said.
Seniors Michael Briganti, Ciera Cavanaugh, Jesus Estrada, Andres Martinez, Josh Schroder, Timothy Stankovich, Ian Thieme all made a conscious effort to attend class every day throughout high school.
Student attendance is important to schools. Not only do the students need to be present to learn, but attendance numbers also determine much of a school’s funding.
“If we had more students with this level of commitment, we would have so much more to offer our students,” Maupin said.
For many of the students, their commitment started at a much younger age.
Thieme, 18, said he had perfect attendance starting in middle school without even thinking about it.
In high school, he decided to make a conscious effort to come to each class every day. This meant occasionally calling friends for rides when his mom’s car broke down, and resisting the pressures to skip school.
“For me, it reflected upon myself. I like to show people that I’m able to do this,” Thieme said.
Thieme said he was self-motivated to pursue getting perfect attendance. But he and many of the students said it was helpful to have support – and sometimes additional pressure – from their parents.
“The encouragement and pressure from their parents is so important. Parents are the key to their children’s success – not only in attendance but also academically,” Maupin said.
Oftentimes for the students, attendance and academic success go hand-in-hand.
“Being absent puts you behind in every class. You have more work to do and less time to do it,” said Cavanaugh, 18.
Estrada said he likes always being the guy who has the notes. Other students know to come to him when they need to see what was lectured on in class.
For these seven students, the decision to be present every day sometimes meant pushing aside feelings of fatigue or an oncoming cold.
Martinez said that one day he was really feeling stressed out, tired and on edge. He grappled with the temptation to call his parents so he could go home, but decided to stick it out the rest of the school day. He said he does not regret his decision at all.
“Having a better attitude about (school) is important,” Estrada said. “Even if you’re sick, the days are not going to go away just because you feel bad.”
For most of these students, they say they hope to continue their trend of good attendance through college and when into their careers.
“It shows how committed you are,” Martinez said.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
