ALABASTER- Thompson High School students with perfect attendance from Friday, Aug. 22 to Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, were recognized at a ceremony in the THS auditorium on Thursday, Jan. 19.

“We’re so excited for our students who made a commitment to be here every day, and we encourage this,” said Alabaster City Schools Superintendent Wayne Vickers. “I also commend the administration at Thompson High School for recognizing this.”

THS Assistant Principal Jamelia Hayes said this is the largest amount of students who have received perfect attendance awards.

“I think that our kids love being at THS, being around other students and being around faculty,” Hayes said. “I think they just enjoy being members of the Warrior family.”

According to Hayes, recognizing students for their attendance records is important, even at a high school level.

“You don’t see a lot of this at the secondary level,” Hayes said. “It’s important for our high school students to understand that attendance is important beyond high school.”

Vickers said there is a direct correlation between high attendance and school performance.

”Once you miss a class, there’s not any way you can make that up, whether it’s lecture notes or whether it’s just interaction,” Vickers said. “Teachers provide such great instruction.”

Vickers said poor attendance can cause a student to fail a course or drop out of school altogether.

“It’s one of the reasons why students don’t pass a course. Attendance is usually one of the serious factors for dropouts,” Vickers said. “Students who have attendance issues and truancy issues tend to be those that do not graduate. We want all of our students to graduate.”

Several students said attending school was important in order to keep up with the school’s curriculum.

“I don’t want to miss any of my AP classes,” said student Anne’ Whitt. “There would be too much work to make up.”

Vickers also thanked the Thompson High School Parent-Teacher Organization for printing certificates for each student and providing snacks after the ceremony.