Never taking a sick day really paid off for a Newsome High School graduate last month. FishHawk resident Joshua Quiggle, one of five students in the county who did not miss a day of school from kindergarten to 12th grade, won a brand new car thanks to his perfect attendance record.
As Joshua is in Texas for basic training for the U.S. Air Force, his mother Wanda accepted the 2018 Toyota Yaris IA for him at the Hillsborough County Public School offices in early June. She held a cardboard cutout picture of her son and waited with the other students to see if the key she was given would unlock the car, indicating that she could take it home for her son.
“It was so surreal,” said Wanda, a teacher at Barrington Middle School. “The suspense of finding out if we won was so exciting and almost unbelievable.”
According to Wanda, Joshua has an incredible immune system and never gets sick, a trait that worked in his favor when it came to school attendance. He is planning a career in the Air Force security services and is heading to Tech School when he finishes basic training this month. Once he finishes that portion of his training, Wanda is hoping he will be able to come and pick up the car.
“This is almost life changing for us,” said Wanda. “He will need transportation in his career and we were trying to figure out how to finance it when we received this amazing news.”
This is the eighth year that Toyota of Tampa Bay has donated a car for a student with this impressive record.
“When students are coming to school and engaged in their course work, they are more likely to reach graduation and become successful in life,” said Hillsborough County School Superintendent Jeff Eakins.
“Arriving to school, or in the future, to work on time every day is a skill any employer will value.”
In addition to the chance to win the car, all students with the 13-year perfect attendance record received a $500 Visa gift card and a lap top computer from local businesses.
The other four students with who achieved the perfect attendance streak are Sarah Grabau, also of Newsome High School, Kristal Hill from Robinson High School,, Dakota Johnson of Chamberlain High School and Carissa Stopowenko from Lennard High School.
For more info, contact, SDHC at 272-4000 or visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us.
