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Amanda Gail

Grant

GRANT HAS PERFECT ATTENDANCE Buffalo Senior Never Misses A Day, K-12
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com

It's a natural law. Students miss school. Whether they get sick,                                 or sick of school and                                   cut class, students                                      miss school.

Amanda Gail Grant                                    never got the memo.                                 Probably because she                                was too busy working                                    in class. When the                                      Buffalo senior                                          strolls across the                                         stage on graduation                                  day, she will do so                                   with perfect class                                      attendance. Not just                                   her senior year. Not                                       just during four years                                    of high school. Amanda                               Grant has never                                    missed a day of school.

Ever.

From kindergarten through 12th grade, Amanda's teachers missed class, her classmates missed class, even her principals took an occasional day off. But not Amanda.

She has perfect attendance for 13 straight years. Buffalo High sent her a letter to prove it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From her first day of kindergarten at George Washington Elementary School in 1995, through her days at George Washington Middle School from 2001-2004, then at Buffalo High School from 2004-present, teachers and classmates knew Amanda would be in class, no matter what the weather, or temptation to take off on the Friday before a three-day holiday weekend.

At 180 days per school year multiplied by 13 years, that's 2,340 straight days of perfect attendance. 

Sure, some of it was luck. Amanda never got very sick during the school year. That is luck. However, much of it was determination and strong parenting that taught her school is important.

"My parents didn't believe in me playing hookey," says Amanda. "My mom always said that if you're too sick to go to school, I had to stay home and couldn't watch TV. They never sent me to school if I was contagious, and I never got that sick."

Of course it helps that Amanda enjoys learning, and being with her friends.

"I like school," Amanda stresses, who says she was never tempted to cut because, "You get to hang out with your friends and meet new people."

Her favorite class is science. "I like to do the different experiments," she says.

"From the time she was little, she never had a desire to miss school, she always wanted to go to school," says Amanda's proud mother,     Debbie Grant. "Her sophomore year, she and her brother were involved in a wreck that totaled her brother's vehicle. She was in a panic that she would be late for school. As soon as I signed the release forms, she walked to school-barefoot."

THAT'S dedication.

The truck they were riding in didn't make it to class that day. It was T-boned, rolled, and totaled. But Amanda hiked to class from in front of the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department.

When you've made it to high school with perfect attendance, a silly little rollover accident on Route 62 isn't going to stop you from getting to class.

"Her friends used to ask her why she never got sick," Debbie recalls. "She says 'Because my mom gives me vitamins.'"

Through the years Amanda was a Most Valuable Bison candidate, Senior Homecoming attendant, won athletic awards from 9th - 12th grade, and a science award her junior year. She also played flute in the band her freshman year at Buffalo, played softball her freshman year, and played volleyball all four years. She also played basketball her sophomore year. We're guessing she never skipped practice either. But that's not all. Grant was a member of RAZE and FCA her sophomore through senior years, as well as class secretary all four years at Buffalo.

Putnam County School officials tell PutnamLIVE.com that they plan to honor Amanda for her perfect attendance. Those plans are still in the works, so we can't tell you what they are.

Meanwhile, Amanda has a few more days of school left before commencement. She says she will be in class. There's no sense missing a day now, after 13 perfect years.

After she graduates, Amanda plans to attend West Virginia State University or Concord University to major in Special Education. Wherever she ends up, we're betting Amanda never cuts class there either.