WHIZ KIDS: Two Maryvale Seniors Score Perfect Attendance Record

Suzanne Patinella and Claire McDowell are graduating from Maryvale Preparatory School with a rare distinction—perfect attendance for all four years of their high school careers.

Suzanne admits to muscling through some illnesses, determined to maintain her streak. She considers showing up for school every day to be a personal commitment.

“There’ve been times when I’ve been sick or whatever, but school is really important to me,” said Suzanne. “I play three sports here—soccer, indoor soccer and softball.” 

Maryvale’s rule for sports is if a student doesn’t show up for the practice, sick or not, she can’t play in the first half of a game. During softball season, she can’t play for the first three innings. “Which is, like, half the game,” said Suzanne, who finds missing the games to be as unacceptable as missing a class.

“It’s a pride thing,” she asserted.

Donna Bridickis, the principal of Maryvale, is proud of Suzanne as well.

“Suzanne is a very dedicated and committed student,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I am sure there have been times when she would have liked to stay home and get some extra rest when feeling ill, but she challenged herself to come to school, once again showing her determination and persistence.”

Claire, on the other hand, feels like her good health has been a stroke of luck.

“Occasionally I have a bit of a sore throat,” she conceded. “I guess personally, I never get very sick or anything.” 

Claire insisted that she’d have stayed home if she suspected she was contagious. But none of her sore throats ever seemed worth worrying about.

“I really value going to school every day. I hate missing school,” she said.

Claire knows how tough it is to catch up on classwork from a missed lesson. She occasionally misses a class when her track team has a meet, and she scrambles to e-mail the teacher and stay on top of the missed assignments. Missing an entire day would be unimaginable.

She did that, once, in middle school.

Once.

Claire’s twin sister Colleen, also a senior at Maryvale, also missed a single day of middle school. Colleen, though, also missed one day in high school, but otherwise can claim the same excellent attendance record.

So can their older sister, Margaret, who graduated from Maryvale in 2010, having missed one day of school as a sixth-grader, and went on to have perfect attendance for the next six years running, until graduation.

What does their mother feed them to keep these girls so healthy? Kelly McDowell, Maryvale’s librarian and the girls’ proud mother, doesn’t think it’s her vegetables that keep her girls going.

“They were determined, and they were driven,” said McDowell. “For them it was a big achievement, and it is really a good thing, to want to be present in school.”

McDowell herself can’t recall needing a sick day for an illness. Her only days off revolve around family events and a younger daughter’s school functions.

“I guess we’re lucky!” she chuckled.

Claire, along with Colleen, is headed to University of Maryland, College Park in the fall. Claire is interested in government and politics, and plans to join a running club.

It’ll help her stay healthy.

Suzanne is headed to Washington College in Chestertown, MD, to play soccer and softball and major in business. Needing a benefits package with sick days, once she lands a job with her business degree, is not something she’s worried about.