Ashanti Palmer of White Plains, New York, graduated high school earlier this year and achieved a rare feat. She was the valedictorian of her class -- and she also never missed a day of school. Not one, even going all the way back to pre-kindergarten.
There was even a big snowstorm that hit when she was a kid. Other schools closed down. Hers stayed open. So, she showed up -- and was pretty much the only one in the classroom.
Explaining that, "it just felt wrong" to miss school, Ashanti graduated with a 99.08 average. She was accepted to 18 colleges and awarded over $430,000 in scholarships. Ashanti is headed to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, to study biomedical engineering.
(photo Getty Images)