'Present!' Hille Eighth Grader Has Never Missed a Day

As a kindergartner, Brooke Boulais wasn't a fan of school. She would fuss over having to attend, telling her mother Carole that she didn't need to listen to her teachers—before begrudgingly humoring them.

Later in her schooling, Brooke proved just as stubborn; there were times her Lee R. Foster Principal Mr. Beringer had to coax her out of her parents' car in the morning.

It might have taken a little persuading—but Beringer knew how to light a fire under her. She couldn't pull off perfect attendance through her fifth grade year, he said.

Wanna bet?

Now just days away from graduation, the eighth-grader at Hille Middle School sits atop a throne of nine years' worth of perfect attendance.

"She has trained her body to get sick every Christmas, every spring break, and every first few weeks of summer" said Carole.

But Brooke's immune system wasn't the only challenge on her quest. She suffers from Aspberger's Syndrome, which makes her skin sensitive and dressing particularly difficult.

"Just getting her dressed to go to school was 'fun,'" Carole said.

There were plenty of close calls. Brooke quickly learned the 15-minute window allowed before being marked as absent for half the day, and there were times she slipped in just in the nick of time. 

"It was down to the wire many times," Carole said.

Then Brooke's competitive edge came into play.

"I realized I would regret it if I just gave up," Brooke said.

Now she's aiming for perfect attendance through high school (she'll attend Chicago Christian in the fall), with goals of straight A's and top 20 students.

She'll leave Hille as one of the top five students in her class—another goal she set for herself as a youngster. Brooke was at her older sister's graduation, when she noticed the students sitting in the front row. She turned to Carole and asked her why they were up front, and Carole told her they had earned it by being the top students in their class. 

"She turned around to me and said, 'I want to see in the front row,'" Carole said.

Brooke's big goals haven't stopped in school—she is a competitive dancer, learning ballet, tap, modern, lyrical, everything but hip-hop. She performs with a traveling ballet troupe through Legacy Dance Studio. She has also participated in school musicals, yearbook, computer club, jazz band and woodwind ensemble. She plays trumpet, oboe and sax.

Her preferred subject is math, and her favorite teacher is Ms. Trojan.

"We're very proud of her," Carole said. "It's taught her, everything in her life, she sets a goal for herself."