The competition is fierce at Button Gwinnett Elementary School this month — and maybe through the rest of the school year.

September is attendance awareness month, and at Button Gwinnett, coming to school every day — and on time — can be quite rewarding.

For those students who are at school every day and on time, their name goes into a drawing the following Monday for a chance through the school’s prize cabinet.

“We pull 14–20 names and they can pick whatever they want out of the cabinet,” said Andrea Palumbo, a school counselor. “This is an initiative we have here at Button Gwinnett to collect data on our attendance, to motivate our students to come to school and come to school on time every time. They’ll get excited — ‘Is my name going to get in the drawing? I’m here today. I want something from the prize cabinet.’” One little girl, Palumbo noted, chose a purse from the cabinet. But not for herself — she gave it to her mother.

Each class is represented by a hand on the cafeteria window. Each day that class has perfect attendance, a star is added to the hand.

“Our theme is ‘Reach for the Stars,’ because the theme for the school this year is centered around space. We have each class represented, kindergarten through fifth grade,” Palumbo said. “For every day they have perfect attendance, they get a star and the teacher can give them an incentive. The students come by and take a look and go, ‘oh wow, we’ve had that many days of perfect attendance.’” Palumbo said the school also wants to do a big giveaway for someone having perfect attendance for a nine-week period, such as a bicycle. The school has increased its attendance percentage to 96%.

Button Gwinnett’s enrollment is just over 700, and the school has added 200 students since last year, Principal Delores Crawford said.

“The goal is for kids to know how important it is to be in school,” Palumbo added. “And we appreciate the parents for getting them here and on time. If they’re not here, they can’t learn. Attendance is very important.”

When it comes to qualifying for the prize cabinet, students are not penalized if their bus is behind schedule and running late. Palumbo said they also encourage parents to schedule doctor’s appointments and family trips outside of school hours and days — and they do stress that if a child is sick, that child needs to stay at home.

“We do whatever we can to encourage students to come to school every day,” she said. “It’s important not just now but for their future.”