Suburban HS student close to achieving perfect attendance for 12 years

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - A south suburban high school student is nearing an accomplishment that would be considered astounding, except that his two older brothers did the same thing.

FOX 32: You've got two weeks to go, that's a lot of pressure, you going to make it?

“Oh yeah, I'll make it,” said Steven Hanus.

The pressure is on, but Hanus says it's no big deal. If he can make it until his May 22 graduation without missing a day of school, the 18-year-old senior from Bloom Trail High School will finish with 12 years of perfect attendance.

He'll also make the high honor roll.

”A number one priority is to get to school, because if you're not at school, how are you going to learn, and how are you going to excel in your classes?” Hanus said.

Perfect attendance runs in the family. FOX 32 met Steven eight years ago when his older brother
Tommy graduated after 12 years without missing a day. The oldest brother, Jimmy, did the
same. They credit their mom, who admits she sometimes woke them up with a water bottle to get them going in the morning.

“It's just like, if you don't move, I'm going to get the spray bottle, I'm going to squirt you. Duh. I got a bottle upstairs, I started squirting it,” said mother Patti Hanus.

Perfection, of course, does not come easy. Steven says that over the years he was once tempted to stay home because of a serious bout with food poisoning. He also wanted to help his mother cope with her thyroid cancer.

But she said no way. 

“It would have upset me. No. I'd rather him be at school. And learning what he needs to learn,” Patti said.

“As the years progressed, and the perfect attendance started stacking up, I was like, ‘You guys can't quit now!’" said father Jim Hanus.

Wednesday night was awards night for Bloom Trail's senior class. Steven, his parents and his brothers were there, and Steven was honored for his perfect attendance.

Steven says in order to preserve his streak, he even showed up for school recently on senior skip day when all of his classmates cut classes.