Phillip Dauma graduated Thursday night from Hannibal High School in Hannibal, Missouri, with perfect attendance. He never missed a day of school in thirteen years.
(CNN) — Maybe Philip Dauma’s grandmother should fix us all breakfast.
Dauma graduated Thursday night from Hannibal High School in Hannibal, Missouri, with perfect attendance. That’s right, he never missed a day of school in THIRTEEN YEARS!
And he credits his grandmother’s breakfast as his secret weapon.
“She came out to the house every morning to make sure I was up,” he said. “And she never made me the same thing. She switched it up everyday. It wasn’t just a bowl of cereal.”
Bacon, eggs, pancakes, whatever he wanted. And whatever it was, it was always good. It powered him up to make it to school everyday (where he shared the leftovers).
But Dauma was tempted to miss school once or twice in 13 years, right?
Nope.
What about all the times when everyone else was skipping?
Nope, he never wavered, much to his friends’ chagrin.
“It was kind of a running joke with my friends,” Dauma said. “They would say, ‘You should be sick one day just to see what’s it’s like to skip school.'”
OK, so surely even he’s been sick in 13 years?
“Sure, I went to school with a stuffy nose or a sore throat, but I never went with chicken pox or something that would make somebody else sick,” he said. “I guess I was really only sick on the weekends.”
Dauma says he loves learning (duh) and prefers being in class to sitting at home.
“I wanted to go to school at an early age,” Dauma told CNN affiliate WGEM. “You know, I’d gone through elementary school without missing a day, so why not just go the rest of school? I had motivation through middle and high school.”
Hannibal High Principal Ted Sampson said the entire school was proud of Dauma.
“He’s well liked by students and staff,” Sampson said.
Dauma is off to a six-year med school program this fall at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He doesn’t plan on missing a day of class there either, though he doesn’t think anyone will notice.
“I don’t know if anyone will keep tabs on a streak.”
Maybe his grandmother can deliver some bacon and eggs to his dorm room.
