The news of Chicago Public Schools students being gunned down has been so prevalent for several months that we overlook some of the positives going on in the district. Most recently, the district cited a dozen students who had perfect attendance their ent
Perfect attendance for a school year is a laudable feat, but for 12 years; it’s an accomplishment that’s nearly inconceivable. Like the violence, truancy receives more attention than students excelling. Showing up everyday, year-after-year for 200-plus days is indicative of someone who not only cares about school but about his or her future as well.
That sort of attendance record speaks volumes for the family, too, given that in the earliest grades, the student has no idea that a perfect record is in the works. Students face more distractions today than at any time in the past.
The decision to blow off a day of school isn’t that difficult for many. Given the reeality that so many urban school districts have dropout rates that top 50 percent, and that first day attendance is pushed more than continued attendance, we need to tell the world when our students get it right. One of our students is Priscilla Barclay.
Unless you spend time with Curie High School students, it is not likely you know that this senior is currently choosing which of six university offers she will accept. Not only did she have the courage and wherewithal to help start a tennis team at Curie her freshman year, she also captained that team for three years.
Barclay’s list of achievements stretches from tutoring after school to serving as president of the Black Student Organization to being vice president of several other organizations, including: National Technical Honor Society and the Curie Student Council. She is president of the school’s Science Honor Society, and a member of the Spanish Honor Society.
She is the kind of student we don’t read about often enough%uFFFDbe it because the media isn’t looking for the positives or the district isn’t promoting their best and brightest enough. But Barclay and all of the other perfect attendance Chicago students from our community certainly represent a much needed respite from the news of what our students are doing wrong.
The first 12 years of her academic career showed usually unattainable heights. As Barclay ascends to the next level, she surely should be a motivation for those coming behind her.
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