ARLINGTON, Texas — It's a major milestone high school seniors are preparing to celebrate: graduation for the class of 2021.
The year is extra special for one graduating senior from North Texas.
Ladasia Rhone, a student at Arlington High School, received recognition for perfect attendance during her school’s recent Senior Awards ceremony. She has never missed a day from school. Her classmates cheered when administrators announced Rhone's record of perfect attendance since kindergarten.
“The counselors and the principals, and students were like, 'oh my God! Ladasia, you really did that? That’s really cool,'” Rhone explained.
The teen admitted reaching the rare accomplishment took work. It also took a little nudging from her parents, early on.
“When I was little in elementary school, they used to always make sure that I was healthy, had everything I needed for school, and would try to get there on time,” Rhone said.
Perfect attendance grew into a perfectly personal mission as Rhone grew older. The challenge of attending senior year during a pandemic forced her to stay focused.
“I forced myself, even when I didn’t want to get out of bed, or necessarily do my assignments and things. When there are so many other things you could be doing, I was like, 'I have to get this done. I have to keep doing this as if it was a normal year,'” Rhone explained.
Rhone is planning to attend Texas Wesleyan University as an education major. She has been awarded a Presidential scholarship.
“I always say, 'never give up.' Because if you give up, you probably will never get to where you want to get to,” Rhone advised.
The graduation ceremony for Arlington High School will be held Thursday, June 3 at AT&T Stadium.
