Perfect attendance pays off

A single “B” in his high school career cost Paul Christensen a place of honor as one of Mead High School’s class of 2007 valedictorians.

However, being in class every day of his senior year netted Christensen an even bigger prize – a $20,000-plus new car.

Christensen was selected at random from a group of 64 seniors from area high schools – seven from his school – to receive a brand new Hyundai Tiburon in Hallmark Automotive Group’s It’s Cool to Stay in School contest.

Having that shiny new automobile in his sights didn’t provide any additional motivation to go to school, Christensen said. It “actually wasn’t too hard” to have perfect attendance, he said.

“I took some pretty tough classes,” Christensen said. “You kind of had to be there every day to stay up to par with the class.”

When you’re taking Advanced Placement physics, calculus and English, “you don’t fall behind on your reading,” he said.

Christensen said he wound up with a 3.96 grade-point average, or “something like that.” There were 19 4.0s. “I got one B (in four years); I was close.”

Christensen said having perfect attendance was nothing new for him just because he was a senior and in line to win a car. “I’ve usually tried to go to school every day throughout the other years,” he said.

But he’ll have just a short time to enjoy that “new car smell.” Christensen will be off to college later this summer, but the car will stay at home.

“The car’s going to stay here with my dad,” Christensen said. “I’m going to Boston University, and that’s probably not the best place to take a car.”

As for a course of study, Christensen said, “I’m not really sure. Maybe political science, but I’m still undecided.”

Now in its third year, the perfect-attendance contest has been a big success, according to Denny Waltermire, one of the owners of Hallmark Hyundai.

A few years ago, Waltermire said, his dealership wanted to get involved in the community. “It’s not an advertising deal for us. It’s strictly a project for involvement in the community,” he said.

“The smart kids get scholarships, and the athletes get scholarships,” Waltermire said. “What about the kid who goes to school every day?”

“What we like about it is we push the concept of staying in school,” he said.

Waltermire said he likes the contest for a variety of reasons, but one that stands out is that “we think that (perfect attendance) shows a lot of tenacity.” As a business person looking at hiring somebody, he gets firsthand knowledge of a valuable work skill.

Waltermire learned some kids have gone through all 12 years and never missed a day of school. “I didn’t know that until we started this (contest), but there are,” he said.

Following the initial contest, the reviews were pretty much positive. About the only people not happy were those whose schools decided not to participate in the program.

Not every school signed up, Waltermire said. But the list of nonparticipating schools is a lot shorter now than it was.

“The first year, I had calls from parents from the schools that didn’t sign up. They were not very happy.” With heat from the parents, the majority of the schools signed up the next year.

The group of students with perfect attendance attend a Spokane Indians baseball game at which the drawing is made. This year, Christensen was unable to attend the game to hear his name called.

The contest is not just for Spokane schools. “We go to schools in Coeur d’Alene, Spirit Lake,” Waltermire said. “We like the feedback we get.”

Even though he’s forking over a $20,000 car each year, Waltermire said there’s not much chance the contest will go away anytime soon.

“Each year, it’s getting bigger,” he said. “The juniors have watched what’s going on, so they are becoming more aware.”

Waltermire says that to the best of his knowledge, no one else in the region – and perhaps the nation – does anything like this.