One lucky Central Valley High School student was handed the keys to a new car Friday afternoon as part of the 2nd Annual Perfect Attendance Drive.

Moises Gonzalez, a junior, was one of 50 students whose names were drawn from a countywide contest designed to encourage attendance at their respective high schools for the seven months from September through March.

Modesto Toyota donated the 2018 Toyota Corolla – worth about $20,000 – for the contest which was sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education. Coming with the car was insurance for a year donated by TSM Insurance, 24 free car washes from Prime Shine Car Wash, and $1,200 in gas cards from Boyette Petroleum. Taxes and license on the new car were covered by the Toyota dealership as well.

SCOE Supt. Scott Kuykendall was present during the lunchtime event.

The 16-year-old student – who has yet to get his license – said he was very happy to win the car and commented that the tension leading up to the announcement was “very nerve racking.” He has been walking to school.

The charcoal grey metallic car will be delivered Saturday after the blue promotion wrap has been removed.

Every high school in Stanislaus County participated. For each month of perfect attendance a student’s name entered the mix for a drawing. Each school, based on student population, was allowed to draw names to go into the countywide drawing. Both Ceres High and Central Valley High were allowed to pick three students each month. A student with perfect attendance all nine months had greater odds of having their name drawn.

On Thursday evening all 50 students gathered at Modesto Toyota to receive four tickets to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Did the contest improve attendance? Judy Boring of SCOE said while it was difficult to measure attendance improvement, the schools “know it made a difference because they had more students that came to school saying that; they wanted to win a car.” 

Two other finalists at CVHS were students Anastasia Curio and Enrique Martinez III.

Assistant Principal Rogelio Adame said his school used a random computer roulette type system to draw winners’ names. SCOE also used a similar online program to pick the final winner from among all the finalists countywide. He estimated that 350 to 450 students received perfect attendance every month this school year.
And yes, Moises had perfect attendance all seven months – and on time – said Adame.