Jun 13, 2013 1 min read

COMMODORE (AP) – A Western Pennsylvania student has graduated from high school without missing a day of school in 13 years, including kindergarten.

Purchase Line graduate Dalton Patterson tells the Indiana Gazette he had a “positive attitude about school.” Dalton says even after he got his license – a time when others became more likely to skip school – he didn’t.

He says, “I figured I already had nine or 10 years of perfect attendance in, so why throw it away now?”

An illness once threatened Patterson’s streak. He was diagnosed with bronchitis one Friday and advised to rest for three days. But that Monday was a snow day, so he returned to school the following Tuesday with his record intact.

Patterson, who graduated Tuesday, plans to attend Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster.