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Sydney Secours

In 1997, Sydney Secours started kindergarten at Walker Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District. Her memories of her first day of kindergarten include the way she wore her hair, her clothes, her first friend, going down the slide on the playground, the weather and her state of mind.

She recalls being nervous. “I was 5 years old and I wanted my mother,” she said.From Walker Elementary, she went on to Hazelwood Middle School, now known as Hazelwood Northwest Middle School.

Today, Sydney is a senior at Hazelwood Central High School. She graduated on May 26 with honors, and with the uncommon feat of perfect attendance for 13 years of her education.”I just made it a habit to be at school every day,” said Sydney.

Her mother, Cathy Secours, teaches communication arts at Hazelwood Central Middle School. She expressed her feelings on Sydney’s feat.

“We are indeed proud that she set a personal goal to achieve perfect attendance. However, it has never been our goal. Sydney has watched us go to our respective jobs and it seems she has made going to school her job,” said Mrs. Secours.

Sydney’s sister, Jackie, is a sophomore at Hazelwood Central High.  “Jackie thinks, ‘It’s cool and all,’” said her mother of Sydney’s perfect attendance.

It is quite an accomplishment to never miss a day of school, but  Sydney said it wasn’t always easy. This school year was particularly difficult, she said. She has relatives in Haiti and when the earthquake devastated the country in January, “it was hard to come to school every day.”

“If I didn’t have perfect attendance, I would’ve been at home watching the news on CNN or trying to capture phone calls. Wondering about my family had an impact on focusing on my classes, and I was taking some challenging classes this year,” said Sydney, but she was able to maintain her grades.

In the fall, Sydney will attend Saint Louis University as a pre-medicine student majoring in biology and business administration as a minor. She wants a career in pediatrics or gynecology.

“Beginning a new academic chapter at SLU is going to continue the preparation Hazelwood began for me in 1997,” said Sydney.

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