May 29, 2009 7:47 am US/Eastern
Teen Honored For 13 Years Of 'Perfect Attendance'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Maybe Victoria Mercer is just a morning person.
"I woke up everyday, got dressed and went to school. It's normal," she said.
But what this Philadelphia high school senior is about to accomplish is anything but normal.
In 13 years, Mercer has never missed a day of school. No sick days. No vacations during the school year. No skipping school. Nothing to keep her from the classroom. Ever.
If you're counting, that's 2,340 school days required by Pennsylvania law from Kindergarten to 12th grade.
"I get sick on the weekends," she joked.
But there might be something – or someone – else behind this impressive feat.
"My mom makes me go to school every day."
"I stress the triple 'A' policy: academics, athletics and attendance," said Mercer's mom, Kim Willis.
She hoped the three 'A's' would help her kids get college scholarships.
"They had senior ditch day two weeks ago and she said to me 'Can I please stay home? Nobody is going to school.' I told her, 'We don't do what everybody else does,'" said Willis.
Apparently not. Mercer is actually the second person in her family to graduate with perfect attendance. Her brother Dominic completed Benjamin Franklin High School in 2003 with a spotless record.
"He's a geek," she said.
But apparently not geeky enough that Mercer didn't want to follow in his footsteps.
It's not as though Mercer even has an easy commute to school.
From her house in Philadelphia's Overbrook Park neighborhood, Mercer has to take a bus, the Market-Frankford El and the Broad Street Subway to get to the World Communications Charter School at Broad and South. It's roughly a 45 minute trip one way.
Mercer says with graduation just a few weeks away, she does suffer from senioritis, and she confessed to being late a few times in the past couple of weeks.
So what if she misses a day in the three weeks before graduation?
"What's the likelihood of that?" asked her mother.
And when asked how she's done it these 13 years, Mercer said: "There's nothing to do if you stay home. I'd rather go to school."
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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