NBC6 | By Ari Odzer | Updated May 5, 2022
So how many days of school did you miss? There’s almost no chance the answer is zero, but there are five high school seniors graduating from five different Broward County Public Schools, who have had perfect attendance since they started elementary school.
It’s a remarkable achievement.
Chanel Seepersad will go from Blanche Ely High School’s nursing program to the University of Florida, inspired by her immigrant parents.
“They didn’t have much of an education growing up and they’ve made a lot of sacrifices, to have me here and have these opportunities here so they always explore that idea that education is important and I need to go to school to have that,” Seepersad said.
Alain Huynh can totally relate to that. Like Seepersad, he credits his perfect attendance at Deerfield Beach High School to values instilled by his parents, who moved here from Vietnam.
“They worked really hard to make ends meet here, I feel like if I don’t attend school just because I don’t want to, it’s like disrespectful to them,” Huynh said.
Never missing a day of school for 13 years is hard to fathom for most of us. Antonio Morales rose to the challenge he created for himself at Coral Springs High School.
“My mom kind of forced me to go to school until about 8th grade, and then since I was almost done with school anyway I just thought I would challenge myself and do it all the way through, just for the fun of it,” Morales said, and that is a direct quote, he said for the fun of it.
Laeticia Joinville’s friends at Sheridan Technical High School are amazed by her perfect attendance record. She says it’s too nerdy to brag about, but being in school every day means she never misses out on anything.
“When you miss school you have to make up the work but I never had to worry about that, I was always on track with my work and homework was always turned in,” Joinville said.
With a name like Jet, it’s no surprise Jet Nguyen has been on autopilot at Everglades High School.
NBC 6 asked him if ever feels like staying home from school for a day.
“Not really, when you get used to something you just do it, without thinking,” Nguyen said. “It’s like natural, it just happens.”
These five students realize a free education is something no one should take for granted.
“It’s not something trivial, school isn’t something that’s trivial, like, it’s worth it,” Alain said.
If it’s true that half of success is showing up, these five students are destined for greatness.
