Giovanni Garcia once convinced an entire soccer team to take a pass on visiting the nation’s capital so he could get back to school in time to keep his perfect attendance record intact.
And yet, the Eisenhower High School senior struggles with whether to major in political science when he heads to the University of Illinois at Chicago in the fall.
Giovanni, who already had seen the nation’s seat of government when his club team headed to a tournament in the Washington, D.C., area, said when talk arose of everyone taking a side trip to sightsee, he had to interject.
“I tried to play it like it wasn’t anything special,” the 18-year-old Blue Island resident said. “I told them it was going to rain, that this was not a good time.”
As a result, the team hit the road early and made it back to Illinois around 2 a.m. Monday, just hours before Giovanni had to head to class, his hard-earned goal still in sight.
“They still razz me about it,” he said.
Giovanni was among a record number of seniors who recently were honored for their perseverance and reliability during a perfect attendance breakfast at the school.
A typical May has Eisenhower feting four or five seniors for coming to school every day of their high school career. When this year’s graduating class was ending its freshmen year, there were two.
This year there were 18.
“This is probably the best group of kids we’ve ever had as far as being academically focused,” Principal Gary Rauch said. “They enjoyed coming to school; it’s evident by the fact they’ve been here every day.”
Rauch said the school has made a conscious effort to give all students a reason to embrace their education.
“We’ve been working at it, making sure they understand school is important and also realizing they want to have fun. We stress everything, our music programs, we have a TV studio, stuff the kids are interested in,” he said. “We’re all about the whole child. We’re kind of like the kitchen table in that sense.”
Spokesman Bob McParland said he’s been with District 218 for nearly 30 years and never has seen a number come close to 18 at any of its three schools. It represents between 4 and 5 percent of the Eisenhower graduating class.
Maureen Russell, administrative assistant who keeps track, said, “Out of the 18 seniors with perfect attendance, 15 are honor students.”
Among them are twins Jocelyne and Jacquelene Garcia, of Merrionette Park.
After seeing their older brother struggle to pay for college, Jacquelene said she and her sister told their father they wanted to get a job.
“He told us, ‘Just go to school, that’s your job for right now,'” Jacquelene said.
Jocelyne said she enjoyed coming to school, seeing friends and staying on top of assignments. The sisters plan to attend Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills in the fall and then go to UIC.
“I didn’t like missing because I would hate to be behind on things,” Jocelyne said.
There were days when she just didn’t feel well, or up to going to class, but her dad’s advice “kind of motivated me,” Jocelyne said.
Indeed. Both Jocelyne and classmate Jazmin Martinez of Blue Island had perfect school attendance all 12 years.
“My parents motivate me,” Jazmin said. “I see how hard they work. My mom works late, and my dad leaves by 7 in the morning. I could easily have stayed home if I wanted to. They wouldn’t find out until later. But I didn’t. Going to school every day — it was on me.”
Jazmin will attend UIC in the fall, majoring in biology and pursuing pre-med courses.
During her high school career, she was involved in cross-country, National Honor Society and soccer, the latter of which almost derailed her perfect attendance record.
She recently sprained an ACL during a game and had to head to the emergency room. Next morning, she was back in class on crutches.
“I want to make my parents proud,” she said. “How can you repay them for doing so much for you? You can’t. You can just try to make them proud.”
Alec Miroballi, 17, of Alsip, has had days when he was tempted to just stay home.
“It was a struggle to come every day, actually, but I don’t want to be behind in school because the work will add up quickly,” he said.
And he’s pretty sure his conscientious attitude toward schoolwork, not to mention his involvement with numerous activities, such as Mathletes, the school newspaper and the National Honor Society, paid off, getting him accepted to Loyola University, where he plans to study mathematics.
In addition to Giovanni, Jocelyne, Jacqueline, Alec and Jazmin, the following students also had perfect attendance all four years at Eisenhower: Mandee Diaz, Stephanie Esparza, Jorge Gallegos, Justin Hernandez, Kassandra Lopez, Rachel Martin, Samantha Padron, Itzel Romano, Lizbeth Soto, Andrea Terraza, Lesley Vazquez, Jada Wiggins and Marcos Zaragoza.
Twitter @dvickroy
