English Valleys senior will graduate Sunday with perfect attendance — kindergarten through 12th grade

NORTH ENGLISH – Kelli Schmitt will reach a milestone at her high school graduation Sunday afternoon.

Yes, there's the diploma, but there's another honor the English Valleys High School senior will achieve – perfect attendance.

Schmitt, 18, will graduate without ever having missed a day of school – in her entire school career. From kindergarten through 12

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grade, there were no sick days, no vacations, no early dismissals for a doctors' appointments, no late arrivals – nothing.

“I think I'm lucky that I rarely get sick,” Schmitt said. “That's a big part of it.”

Schmitt said her first few years of perfect attendance passed without her knowing. It wasn't until her sixth grade year, when she received a bouquet of balloons in recognition of her achievement, that she even realized the significance of it.

“It was like ‘OK, I made it this far, let's keep it going,'” she said.

Even then, it was more of an experiment. It became a goal the last few years.

“I got to the point where I wasn't going to go this long without missing school just to take a sick day,” she said.

She did fall victim to the flu her junior year in high school and argued with her parents about going to school.

Schmitt wanted to go. Her parents weren't sure she should. She was set to fake being well, but Mother Nature intervened.

“We had a snow day that Friday and I had the whole weekend to get better,” Schmitt said.

Others at that school were aware of Schmitt's record and it came in handy for students who joined her on group projects – they knew she'd show up for class every day.

“I think it's pretty amazing when you consider all the other things happening in a student's life,” Principal Martin Van Roekel said.

He is not aware of any other students in the district to achieve perfect K-12 attendance. Inquiries with other Eastern Iowa schools resulted in students with perfect high school attendance, but an unmarred attendance record since kindergarten is a rare feat.

Now that she's made it, Schmitt is focused on the future. She plans to attend Kirkwood Community College and eventually transfer to the University of Iowa. She will study medicine and computer science with the goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist.

Will she shoot for perfect attendance in college?

“I don't know,” Schmitt said with a laugh. “We'll see what happens.”