Chronicle Classic

Teresa Davis likes going to school. She appears normal in every other respect.

Today she will carve her name into the annals of San Mateo High School history.

When she graduates this afternoon, she will be the only student never to have missed a day of school since kindergarten. It defies belief. This reporter sat in Miss Davis’ presence and was shaken to his core.

“I don’t really like school, but I like going to school,” she said. “I like being there. It’s what you’re supposed to do. What else is there to do?”

It’s not that Teresa Davis hasn’t been sick. She has had one mild cold after another — the kind that would make any decent American kid whine, cough on cue and settle onto the sofa for a day of TV game shows.

Not Teresa Davis. When Teresa caught a cold, she took it to school and toughed it out.

“It doesn’t affect me,” she said. “A stuffy nose, a headache? What’s that? No big deal.”

She even signed up for summer school a few times, for the heck of it. She called it “really great.”

Summer school? Great? There had to be some mistake. Teresa gazed up with bright eyes and assured me that there wasn’t.

Two weeks ago, San Mateo High held something called Senior Cut Day. On Senior Cut Day, the school allows seniors to take the day off and do anything they want. Teresa went to school. “I wanted to see if any other seniors were around,” she explained. “They weren’t.”

We were in her room. Everything was utterly normal. The room was a mess, with piles of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines, a Yankees cap, an electric guitar and pinups of lithe rock stars. There was no explanation here.

This reporter was not the only skeptic, by the way. School officials have been combing her attendance file like border guards checking visas. They had never heard of anything like it. It didn’t seem right.

One particular counselor was so suspicious that she requisitioned the file and pored over it at length, looking for gaps in the record. When she found an all-day absence slip dated Nov. 28, 1983, Teresa’s record did appear to be in jeopardy.

But the diligent Craig Young, director of the attendance office, checked the official phone log for that day and discovered that Teresa’s mother had called to say Teresa would be sick for the morning only.

Further checking showed that the amazing Teresa Davis had dragged herself to school that afternoon. The record held. “It’s admirable,” Young said, leafing through the file. “You might say it’s against the grain these days. Actually, I’m at a loss for words.”

Last week, they celebrated Teresa Davis on Awards Night. Other students got their prizes for grades, sports and scholarships. There was no award for attendance, but the assistant principal broke precedent and singled her out anyway. Her fellow students, not sure of what else to do, applauded.

“I never wanted to be normal,” Teresa Davis said. “That would be boring. Everyone has to find some way to stand out from the crowd. I guess I found mine.”

Teresa went to school (on Senior Cut Day). “I wanted to see if any other seniors were around,” she explained. “They weren’t.”