Brandon Calderon is celebrating his graduation this year from South Hills High School with one other feather in his mortarboard: He is capping a run of nearly perfect high school attendance — an almost “impossible” achievement amid the pandemic’s impact on education, his principal said.

That’s right: Through all the headwinds of the past four years, Calderon missed only one day of school in his four years of high school at the Covina-Valley Unified School District campus. And he had a great excuse: It was just last week when he took a day off after finals to attend his sister’s graduation.

For Calderon, his attendance is what he said kept him on track to graduate and helped him maintain a 3.87 grade-point average.

“It was hard at times to keep perfect attendance,” said Calderon, whose class graduated Wednesday. “There were times where I didn’t feel like going to class but I knew I had to and just powered through. I knew I needed to come every day to get things done and not fall behind. It was my responsibility to always show up to class. That’s just how I’ve always been.”

A self-described “lover of learning,” Calderon estimated that he has attended every day of school since the sixth grade.

He transferred to Covina-Valley Unified School District to start high school in 2019 and credited his time in the district for helping better prepare him for college. Calderon took advantage of school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination program for all four years, which he said gave him guidance and helped him develop strategies to succeed in college and beyond.

“Brandon’s ability to maintain attendance throughout high school is superimpressive,” South Hills High Principal Allan Tyner said. “In my 20 years in education, it has been fairly rare to see students with that level of dedication. It was tough for students to accomplish before, but the pandemic made it nearly impossible.”

After graduation, Calderon plans to dive straight into college by taking summer school classes and completing his general education courses at Mount San Antonio College. Once he decides on a major, he plans to transfer to Cal Poly Pomona or Cal State Fullerton.

“Brandon’s unwavering perseverance and pursuit of knowledge is clear through his commitment to high school attendance, even during a pandemic,” Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Eminhizer said. “He is a phenomenal example to every student in our district, and we are looking forward to seeing him achieve great things in his next chapter of life.”