Student's perfect attendance results in new car

[May 28, 2008]  CONSTANTINE, Mich. (AP) -- Andria Baker has pretty much always been present. From the first day of kindergarten through her last day of high school, Baker somehow made it to school for every day of classes, despite colds and sports injuries. Why? If she kept it up, her father promised her a car.

Baker kept up her end of the bargain, willing herself to go to school on those days when she felt under the weather. She notched her 13th year of uninterrupted classroom attendance with her final day at Constantine High School on Friday.

At a party Sunday, her father, Tim, presented the young woman with the keys to a new, $17,000 Pontiac G6, complete with a "0 DAYS" personalized license plate.

"Without a doubt, it was worth every penny I spent," he said.

The look on his daughter's face when she saw the car was priceless, Tim Baker said.

"When she turned around after seeing the car, she did not know what to do," he said. "We got her into the car and she just sat there. Then she ran into the house to get her driver's license, and she and her best friend got in the car and tooled down the road."

Andria Baker, 19, said she probably would have gone ahead with her quest for perfect attendance even if a new car had not been promised.

"A lot of my friends thought I was crazy, but I just kept going," she said.

[Associated Press; By ROBERT JABLON]

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