After his mother got a few speeding tickets, sickness seem to strike like clockwork on holidays and he survived a major smack in the head by a foam sword in a prank on the last day of high school, Andrew Abadie was golden.
Despite the continual calamities of life, the Destrehan resident had achieved what few students have done in school – 12 years of perfect attendance.
“It’s just something I started naturally,” he said of being among only two students to achieve the goal in recent memory at Holy Cross School. “And when I did five or six years, it became a test to myself to see if I could do it the whole way.”
As senior class president, Abadie was master of ceremonies for the May 21 commencement ceremony. He graduated summa cum laude and received a certificate that recognizes his school attendance.
Abadie unabashedly explained the achievement is actually rooted in a bet he accepted with his father, who had just gone two years without a missed day of work.
“He bet me that I couldn’t beat that and I replied, ‘You’re on.’” Abadie said. “It was just one of those challenges between a father and son. I thought, ‘Okay. I got this. I can do that.’”
He won that bet, although he can’t remember if there was a prize involved other than relishing the honor.
By the time Abadie entered fifth grade at St. Charles Borromeo School in Destrehan, he was well on his way with the goal and still looking forward to doing it. He got some inspiration when he saw a fellow LaPlace student get a free car from a local dealership for perfect attendance, and then later saw two more students get them.
As far as he was concerned, he was getting a car, too, and it cemented the goal with him.
His mother, Elida Abadie, noted, “He remembered that story because a few years later, when he moved to Holy Cross School in sixth grade, I mentioned to him that perhaps he could try to continue with his perfect attendance. He told me, yes. That was the plan because he wanted to win that car.’”
His mother explained with a laugh that this achievement didn’t come with a guaranteed car, but she promised him if he did it they would get him one.
Abadie knew he’d have challenges along the way, including overcoming I-10 traffic to school and his mother’s notorious last-minute departures.
“That was adventurous,” he said. “My mom isn’t exactly good with time and I came close a lot times of missing the 8 a.m. bell. A couple of times, she got pulled over for trying to get me to school on time. The total time was eight to nine times we were pulled over, and it was multiple times in one year.”
Nerve-wracking close calls with the morning bell were a routine matter until he learned to drive and got that car he’d been wishing for as a child.
His mother was determined to help her child meet his goal.“She had a lot to do with it that I stuck with perfect attendance,” he said. “She had to help me do it.”
Extracurricular activities helped fortify his schedule, helping him remain vigilant on his perfect attendance goal.
“I took running seriously all through high school, and you have to stay constant to keep with it like homework and it helped me with it,” Abadie said. “It was really a good combination of things.”
Even sickness helped him along his way, hitting at Thanksgiving or Christmas when he was off school.Ironically, on his last day of school, a senior prank nearly got him.
A hit to the face with a foam sword nearly left him needing stitches that should have meant he went home, but Abadie toughed it out. The school nurse helped him so he didn’t have to leave.
“I cut it close even onto the very end,” he said.But an older Abadie now believes he’s gotten something better for meeting his goal.
“There are plenty of benefits of what it teaches,” he said. “It shows you more than you realize.”
Time management is one of them, which Abadie expects will help him in his studies at Southern Miss University where he plans to major in broadcast journalism.
“Mentally, I think it’s just stuck in me now,” he said. “Even if I want to miss class, I don’t think I could.”
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