- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
An 'A+' in attendance: Clear Lake High grad honored for never missing a day of school
LAKEPORT, Calif. – When Allison Hanson graduated from Clear Lake High School at the end of May, she achieved a unique distinction.
Since the first day of kindergarten through her last day as a senior in high school, she had never missed a day of school.
Hanson, 18, was honored by the Lakeport Unified School Board at its June 12 meeting, with Board Chair Phil Kirby congratulating her for an “outstanding achievement.”
According to district officials, Hanson had a perfect record of 2,340 days in school, all of them spent in the Lakeport Unified School District.
Illness and even a senior cut day couldn't keep her away.
Hanson, taking a break from a swim with the Channel Cats swim team at the Westshore Pool last week, told Lake County News that she always liked school, and so she set for herself the goal of never missing a day of it.
Initially, it was a competitive endeavor, and as time went on she kept on target by reminding herself that she was so close to making it.
“It gave me a really good work ethic,” she said.
It helped, she said, that her immune system cooperated and only seemed to let her down when summertime came around.
Her younger sister, Nikki, also has a great attendance record – she's only missed five days so far due to illness.
Hanson had a 4.0 grade point average her senior year, and a 3.7 grade point average overall. Besides her classroom commitments, she's kept busy with other activities, including the Academic Decathlon, Channel Cats, the executive student council, California Scholarship Federation and AmeriCorps.
She also began volunteering at the elementary school when she was a freshman in high school.
“I fell in love with it,” she said of her work in the classroom with children.
Her desire to work with children has led her to decide to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher.
She'll begin college at Sonoma State University this fall where she'll work on her teaching degree, which she expects to have in five years.
When the Lakeport Unified School District Board honored Hanson last month, Board Chair Phil Kirby told her that her achievement was “significant” for the district, as student attendance is the key to revenue for schools.
“It’s a wonderful commitment that you made,” Kirby said, congratulating her parents, Jeff and Jennifer Hanson.
“We can’t do our job unless you’re here,” Kirby added.
Hanson wants to return to Lakeport to teach, and Kirby pointed out at the meeting that Lakeport Unified has a student teaching agreement with Sonoma State.
The agreement – the most recent version of which was accepted on the board's consent agenda the night Hanson was honored – calls for the district to provide Sonoma State teaching students with practice teaching opportunities under the supervision of district employees.
Hanson's commitment to her schooling – and not missing days in the classroom – should come in handy in college.
She said her major requires strict attendance; if more than six days are missed, a student will be dropped from the program.
Hanson said she's not worried.
“That sounds pretty easy to me,” she said.
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