When it comes to attendance at school, there are usually those who put the time in more than others. It depends on all sorts of things - from your general health to your social life to how strict your parents are when it comes to taking a day off sick.
Of course, there are those who will turn up through thick and thin - but even they will take the day off when they're coming down with illness at some point. One 17-year-old student from Ireland, however, has managed to not miss a single day of school in 13 years.
Joshua Kirwan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Attendance Award during his school's end of year ceremony on Tuesday night. He had full attendance in all five years at Scoil Ui Mhuiri in Dunleer, Co Louth, as well as eight years of unblemished attendance at Callystown National school in Clogherhead.
"I always enjoyed school, meeting up with my friends and would always like to think I was a hard worker," he told the Irish Mirror. "As the years went by and I kept getting recognition for not missing a day, it became like a competition for me to beat. I didn’t want to miss a day and break that record."
"Thankfully I hadn’t any serious illnesses in school term. I even managed to get the chickenpox during the school holidays," he added.
Not only did Joshua never miss a day of school, but he was never late in all 13 years of perfect attendance. Now, he's hoping that all his hard work pays off when it comes to exam season.
He said:
"My mum always told me that if I commit to something and put my name to anything, I should give it 100% so I try to live up to that. I haven’t missed a day schooling so hopefully, all that education will stand to me in the Leaving Certificate.
"I’ve had a lot of support and encouragement over the years, from my parents, teachers, and sports coaches so a big shout out to them too. Even in sport, it could be wet and windy weather that you wouldn’t put a dog out in but I’ve never missed training.
"My motto was always get up, lace up and show up."
It's not just his family that are proud of him for the accomplishment though, but the faculty as well.
"It very rare to see a student who hasn’t missed a day at all in both national and post-primary education," Principal of Scoil Ui Mhuire in Dunleer, Eilis Flood said. "Joshua is an amazing all-rounder both academically, sporting and socially. He is great craic but also enormously respectful and polite and we’ve no doubt any employer will be delighted to have him in whatever career path he chooses."
Hopefully, this all pays off for Joshua's final grades!
