LAUREL HILL — Senior Chelsea Smith won't participate in Senior Skip Day because it would ruin her 13-year record of perfect school attendance.
Since she started as a Laurel Hill School kindergartener, Chelsea has not missed a day of school.
Her friends tease her about her record and jokingly threaten to spoil it before she graduates.
"They told me they're going to barricade my road so I can't go to school," Chelsea said. "What great friends I have."
Chelsea, who lives with her grandparents, Deborah and Scotty Kilpatrick, said her grandfather encouraged her perfect attendance streak.
"When I was little, my grandpa had never missed a day of work," she said. "We started a game where I wouldn't miss school if he didn't miss work."
Chelsea’s grandparents have annually rewarded her at each school awards day ceremony. She'll find a little goodie bag from them waiting on her seat.
"When they call out the perfect attendance award, I'm already walking down," Chelsea said.
Chelseais dual-enrolled at Northwest Florida State College and has just been accepted to Florida State University. She hopes to pursue a medical degree, specializing in neonatology.
Chelseamaintains a 3.6 grade point average and is ranked seventh in her graduating class of 34 Hoboes, according to her other grandmother, Joan Smith.
She plans to maintain her attendance record in college. Although Chelsea sometimes finds it harder to get motivated, her lifelong enjoyment of school nudges her out of bed.
"I used to cry if I didn't get to come to school," she said. "I love learning."
Since she started as a Laurel Hill School kindergartener, Chelsea has not missed a day of school.
Her friends tease her about her record and jokingly threaten to spoil it before she graduates.
"They told me they're going to barricade my road so I can't go to school," Chelsea said. "What great friends I have."
Chelsea, who lives with her grandparents, Deborah and Scotty Kilpatrick, said her grandfather encouraged her perfect attendance streak.
"When I was little, my grandpa had never missed a day of work," she said. "We started a game where I wouldn't miss school if he didn't miss work."
Chelsea’s grandparents have annually rewarded her at each school awards day ceremony. She'll find a little goodie bag from them waiting on her seat.
"When they call out the perfect attendance award, I'm already walking down," Chelsea said.
Chelseais dual-enrolled at Northwest Florida State College and has just been accepted to Florida State University. She hopes to pursue a medical degree, specializing in neonatology.
Chelseamaintains a 3.6 grade point average and is ranked seventh in her graduating class of 34 Hoboes, according to her other grandmother, Joan Smith.
She plans to maintain her attendance record in college. Although Chelsea sometimes finds it harder to get motivated, her lifelong enjoyment of school nudges her out of bed.
"I used to cry if I didn't get to come to school," she said. "I love learning."
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Laurel Hill School senior hasn't missed a day of class in 13 years