There are 180 school days in a year, 720 over the course of four years. Detroit Rogers has attended school for all 720 days of his high school career and will soon be graduating, not only with outstanding academic achievement, but with perfect attendance.
Alongside him Coltan Booth, Hayley Brack, Madison Chapple, Zoey Ebaugh Griffis, Caiden Kirchner, Piper Peterson, Audrey Quimpo and Beau Upshaw, all had perfect attendance for the 2024/2025 school year.
Today these students were all recognized at the Lakeland High School awards assembly for their great achievement.
Piper Peterson along with many of her peers that had perfect attendance this year explained that they didn’t necessarily make an effort to do so, but are proud they did and plan to do it in future years.
Rogers was recognized in front of the whole school as the only student in the senior class to have finished high school with perfect attendance throughout all four years.
Teachers could always count on seeing Rogers, even on senior skip day, to be at school and on time and ready to learn.
Rogers was one of the very few students that came to school on senior skip day.
Many students skip school abundantly, but seniors really take the cake. Senioritis can infect students and make coming to school seem nearly impossible.
Having perfect attendance is important because it allows students to fully benefit from their education and have the habit of perfect attendance needed for the workforce.
Rogers has been practicing important life skills every day for the past 720 days. When asked why he chose to make the effort to come to school every day Rogers put it plainly: “I had no reason to stay home.”
“It’s a challenging task and not everyone can do it, but it’s really fulfilling not missing a single day,” Rogers said.
Rogers didn’t see having perfect attendance as a goal, or a high achievement, he saw it as what he has to do every day to be successful.
“Not missing school kept my stress lower and I’ve been in the honor roll since freshman year because I’ve come to school, and it’s helped me keep on task and get everything done in a timely manner.”
Making the decision to move towards success every day is extremely important, these students set an example for how to move towards success.
Coming to school is difficult, sometimes it’s not always in the students control, and sometimes students just need a break.
Soon the freshman, sophomores and juniors with perfect attendance will continue to strive for success and obtain perfect attendance in the years to come.
“It’s an incredibly impressive award, not even teachers have perfect attendance,” Mr. Joshua Ballard, science teacher at LHS said. “These students surpass the teachers.”