Corey Sowers of Marlboro, N.Y. – seen here with his father, Ken – celebrates his perfect attendance from kindergarten through college. Sowers is a Game Programing major and Cybersecurity minor, and has greatly enjoyed his time on the Mount’s Golf team.
That Corey Sowers, a Game Programing major at Mount Saint Mary College, made it through his elementary, middle, and high school years without ever missing a day of classes is amazing.
That Sowers has managed to achieve perfect attendance again, now as a soon-to-be college graduate, is almost unbelievable. But fact is often stranger than fiction – and Sowers, a native of Marlboro, N.Y., has the receipts to prove it.
Upon learning of Sowers’s accomplishment, the first question most people ask is simple: How did he manage such a feat?
Ask a simple question, get a simple answer.
“It’s just thanks to staying healthy, because I don’t get sick throughout the school year unless it’s winter break or spring break. That’s when it usually occurs,” Sowers explained. “But other than that, I’m good.”
He added, “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. But here we are.”
Not even the COVID-19 pandemic could break his streak, with Sowers logging in to his online schooling every day.
“I don’t want to miss anything for any of my classes,” Sowers explained.
Sowers’s father, Ken, says that watching his son reach this milestone “is a proud dad moment, for sure. When he achieved it the first time in elementary school, which was six years including kindergarten, he got an award for it. At the ceremony, I looked at my wife and said, ‘Boy, it would be nice if he kept this going.’”
And keep it going he did. In total, Sowers hasn’t missed a day of school in 17 years. With graduate school on the horizon, possibly at Marist University, Sowers is hoping to maintain his streak.
But wherever his education takes him, his goal remains the same.
“Growing up, I played video games a lot,” he explained. “I was always the type of person that, when a new game came out, I was finding glitches and bugs. I looked up how the game was made because I found that interesting. I wanted to make my own games one day, or work for a company that makes games.”
At the Mount, he worked towards this goal as a Game Programing major. Over the last four years, Sowers delved into the game development process by analyzing professional game engines, learning scripting languages, developing AI for non-player characters, and more.
Nothing lasts forever (with the possible exception of Sowers’s perfect attendance streak), and with graduation coming on May 17, lately Sowers found himself reflecting on his time as a college student.
He’s done a lot in addition to his normal classes. For example, sports have always been a big part of his life, and at the Mount, Sowers was a member of the college’s Tennis team before joining the Golf team. He was also a member of Byte Knights, the college’s Information Technology club.
But just like Golf season does every year, Sower’s time as a Mount undergrad has come to an end.
“I’ll miss it here, but I’m excited for what’s next,” he said.