Not even a sports standout, it seems, can avoid the "nerd" label that comes with perfect attendance at school.

That was clear Wednesday when two Southern Alamance High School seniors, Jeremy Vaughn and Zack Pickard, talked about not missing a day of school since kindergarten.

"Do you get called a nerd as much as I do?" Vaughn asked Pickard.

Pickard, a kicker and punter for Southern's football team, plans to continue in the sport as a punter at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. He's also played soccer and basketball and run track.

Vaughn has been catcher and played second and third base for Southern's baseball team. He will play at Averett University in Danville, Va. At Southern, he has also run cross country and played junior varsity football as a freshman and sophomore.

Brenda Payne, a guidance counselor at Southern, said it's unusual for a student to have perfect attendance from elementary through high school. To have two students in the same graduating class is all the more rare.

A request from the Alamance-Burlington School System's office to the other five traditional high schools turned up one other student with perfect attendance: T

rey Ward, a senior at Graham High School. Ward is salutatorian of his graduating class, meaning he has the second-highest academic standing. (The Times-News will begin running profiles of valedictorians and salutatorians at local high schools next week)

Pickard started school in South Carolina and continued at E.M. Holt Elementary. Vaughn went to Pleasant Garden Elementary in Guilford County. Both went to Southern Middle School, though Vaughan started middle school at Southeast Guilford Middle School.

 As a younger kid, Pickard said, "I didn't ever get sick much." By the time he reached the age when young people start looking for reasons to miss school, he wanted to maintain his perfect attendance record.

"That's kind of cool," Vaughn remembers thinking about getting recognized for perfect attendance as a young student. "Maybe I'll keep getting awards.

Nerdy or not, Pickard and Vaughn say never missing school has made them stand out.

"This is something they'll always remember about you," Pickard said.

More importantly, they said, it should give them a good start toward being disciplined as they move on from high school.

"This should help us in college and on the job," Vaughn said.