Three Gwinnett County students were honored last week for a Cal Ripken-like accomplishment.
These students achieved perfect attendance, never missing a school day from kindergarten through the 12th grade. That’s 2,340 days if you’re counting. Ripken, the retired baseball Hall of Famer, played a record 2,632 consecutive games, setting the modern-day standard of dutifulness.
Gwinnett school officials congratulated the students — Gregory Hirsch, Logan Hostetler and Zachary Israel — at a school board meeting last week.
“This may seem like a simple thing, but it’s a huge thing,” said Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks.
Hirsch, 18, said he was unaware he had never missed a school day until his junior year of high school. Classmates were “stunned.” Hirsch didn’t know about the day his senior class had set aside to skip school.
“I noticed half the class was gone,” said Hirsch, an aspiring playwright who is attending the University of North Georgia this fall. “I felt kind of left out, but it was kind of funny.”
Israel, 17, said never missing school taught him discipline. The closest he came to not going to school came in the third grade. He cut a finger one Sunday and needed 14 stitches to repair the gash.
“What are you doing?,” his mother asked the following morning as Israel got himself dressed for school.
“She was surprised that I was preparing myself to go,” Israel said in an interview. “It was a regular routine.”
High school classmates, Israel said, rooted for him to continue the streak. He believes it helped him maintain good study habits, a trait he’ll need in college. He’s planning to attend Lipscomb University this fall.
“The more days I was in class taking notes, the easier it’s going to be going to lectures in college,” he said.
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