You can count on 'em to be there

Twins Tyrone (left) and Talmadge Dover from Gaffney High are among six county students who will graduate in June with 12 years of perfect attendance. School was double the pleasure for Gaffney High twins Tyrone and Talmadge Dover.

The Dovers are among a select group of high school seniors in South Carolina who will graduate this year with 12 years of perfect attendance. That translates into 2,160 straight days of school while avoiding the chicken pox, colds, influenza and other ailments which often keep students home from class.

Gaffney High seniors Brandon Coggins, Ashley Holliday and Eboni Wafford as well as Blacksburg High senior Adam Craig Wylie also have 12 years of attendance perfection.

The chances of that happening to one student in a given school are rare. Those odds become even greater when one considers the possibility of two different pairs of twins earning 12 years perfect attendance in consecutive years.

Last year, twins Tamara and Spencer Younce from Aiken County were recognized by the state for perfect attendance. This year, it's Tyrone and Talmadge Dover's turn.

"This was something our grandma wanted us to do. None of her children had perfect attendance so she wanted us to do it for her," Talmadge Dover said. "One of us would get sick over the weekend. By the time school started on Monday, we would be ready to go back to school."

Along with perfect classroom attendance, Talmadge and Tyrone Dover played on the 2005 Gaffney High state championship football team.

The Dover twins didn't really think about perfect attendance until early this year - not that it was ever really an option.

"Our mom made us go to school," Tyrone Dover said.

Tyrone and Talmadge Dover will attend North Greenville University this fall where both plan to play football.

Statewide, 73 high school seniors in this year's graduating class have gone their entire academic careers without missing a single day. The 73 are among more than 33,000 seniors in South Carolina who will graduate over the next couple of weeks.

Since 1979, seniors with 12 years of perfect attendance have been recognized by the state Department of Education.

Mauldin High School in Greenville led the state with six students who had perfect attendance. Gaffney High, Dorman High in Spartanburg District 6 and Sumter High in Sumter District 17 had five students each.