THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406170202
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Long
Present!
{REST} The Churchland High School student's 13 years of perfect school attendance earned him special recognition at Thursday's graduation ceremony.
``It's such a wonderful feat,'' said Raymond Hale, principal. ``I think it shows maturity - how dependable and reliable he is.''
It's also something Hale has found that potential employers look at.
Dixon hopes that's true. He's planning on heading down to North Carolina A&T to study civil engineering or architecture.
But he wasn't thinking about his resume when he first decided he wasn't going to miss a day of school.
He already had made it from kindergarten to the third grade with perfect attendance when it hit him this was something unique. That's also when he decided he was going to go the distance.
``I knew I had something going for me,'' he said. ``I knew I had a chance.''
He also had a little luck and a lot of health.
``I can just say I'm one of the healthiest people around,'' he said.
Dixon remembers having chicken pox, but says it must have been during a school holiday.
He never had the measles or the mumps and he managed to get through years of soccer, football and basketball without any broken bones.
``I've had a cold every now and then, but I don't think that should keep me away from school,'' he said.
He nips sore throats in the bud by gargling with salt water and his mother plies him with chicken soup and a cold tablet at the first hint of a sniffle.
Dixon says he's never had the fevers or chills that send most people to bed with aches and pains.
``I don't even know what it feels like to have the flu,'' he said.
He has felt nauseated before, he said, but ``a little Pepto-Bismol will clear that up.''
Most people find Dixon's 13 years attendance hard to believe. Many think he's joking.
``I was shocked myself,'' he said.
But along with his physical health, Dixon might have one other factor going for him.
``I don't worry too much,'' he said.
He didn't stress out about whether some malady would come along and ruin his track record either.
``I just did it day by day,'' he said.
About 2,128 of them.
\ Timothy, Donald and Christopher Goad didn't decide to go for perfect attendance until the eighth grade. But among the triplets, they've chalked up 15 years of perfect attendance.
It all started when they saw a Cradock High School senior win a perfect attendance award in the form of a $5,000 scholarship.
They thought that was pretty cool.
``We made like a bet to see if we could do it or not,'' said Timothy Goad.
Unlike Dixon, the Goad brothers don't claim to be medical wonders.
``I've been really sick sometimes and gone to school,'' said Timothy.
There were days when they had to pay a visit to the school nurse who called their mother and had them picked up. If she couldn't be reached, they would sometimes sleep in the nurse's office.
They were still considered present that day though.
``It wasn't like we show up and say `We're here' and go home,'' said Timothy. ``We were trying to stay as long as we could.''
He also concedes there were times when he wondered about this challenge he and his brothers had taken on.
``After a while it got really annoying like `I don't want to go to school, I don't want to go to school,' said Timothy, who has a habit of jumping in and answering for the triplets like the lead contestant in a Jeopardy game.
``But we managed to get through it,'' he said.
On Thursday, the brothers and their best friend - Bernard Isidore - were preparing for a graduation cruise on the Spirit of Norfolk, their mother's treat.
Christopher, a special education student who earned a $700 Student Cooperative Association scholarship, is preparing to leave for a rehabilitation center in northern Virginia where he will study carpentry and earn his GED and driver's license.
Donald, a member of the National Honor Society who graduated with an advance studies diploma, plans to work for a year to save for tuition at Old Dominion University.
Timothy, who also earned an advance studies diploma, plans to go to Tidewater Community College.
The Goad triplets started high school at the now-closed Cradock High School and graduated from Norcom where no special attendance awards were bestowed.
``I guess in a way it did bother me, because I was hoping for some recognition,'' Timothy said. ``But I'm not worried about it.
``There were a couple of days this year when I would think `Why am I doing this?' and then when they called my name and I went across the stage I found my answer.
``This is it.''
by CNB