FISHERS, Ind. (WRTV) — A recent graduate from Fishers High School is headed to college with her diploma and some bragging rights. Eighteen-year-old Maegan Semesky has never missed a single day of school in 13 years.
What started as a friendly competition with a classmate transformed into something far more meaningful.
“I’ve never missed a day of school from kindergarten through 12th grade, all my K through 12 career,” Semesky said.
“I did it for myself, not the district. It’s more of just a personal thing for me. Because it’s like, ‘OK, I did it. I was able to go another year without missing school.’”
Her father, Ted Semesky, said his daughter’s commitment was unwavering. She refused to consider family vacations to places like Disney World unless they fell during school breaks.
“But it’s still just like, oh my god, I actually made it all 13 years and haven’t missed a day of school. It’s just like mind-blowing,” Maegan Semensky said.
A mind-blowing mission that she set for herself way back then. It started as a competition with a friend, then it turned into her own mission. Of course, there were obstacles.
When asked if she ever got sick, Semesky said, “Yeah, but it was usually like on a Friday or like right before a break.”
There was the pandemic. She was in the 6th grade and still showed up on Zoom (or tried to). But perhaps one of her biggest motivations to keep showing up was the consistency of it all. When Semesky was little, her mom got sick.
“My mom passed away going into 2nd grade, so when I was seven,” Semesky said. “I think even if it did happen in the school year, I still kind of would have been fine going to school.”
Maegan refused to miss a day. Fast forward to senior year, and at the Final Roar Celebration, the principal told everyone her accomplishment.
“I’m just like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know we were calling this out now’ – it was a lot of shock noises,” Semesky explained.
Maegan is humble about the whole thing – crediting luck more than anything else. She emphasized that the district, her friends, and family did not pressure her to accomplish perfect attendance, that it just worked out that she never missed a day.
“It’s a lot of luck and more luck and a little bit of determination, again, mainly luck,” Semesky said.
She encourages kids to stay home if they are sick or need to go to an appointment. However, she does hope kids take away one thing from her story.
“I think the importance of showing up, because whether it be for my classes, for my own personal thing, also just for friends and extracurriculars… It taught me that showing up is important,” Semesky said.
Now, she is headed to college at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to study chemistry and biochemistry. She is not sure that the perfect attendance streak will keep going then.
