North Carolina student James Brown III graduated from high school over the weekend as the class valedictorian. The 18-year-old graduated from Wilson Preparatory Academy after never missing a day of school since kindergarten, his family said.
“Feeling absolutely relieved and I feel blessed to be here,” James Brown said inside the gymnasium of his school while rehearsing for the big day.
A bit nervous at rehearsal, he told WTVD how seriously he took his lessons to enable him to graduate at the top of his class with a 4.2 GPA.
RELATED STORIES
“Working every day, studying, getting every single thing right to a ‘T’ to where I could be able to pass all my classes,” James Brown said.
READ ALSO: Arkansas student makes history earning perfect score on National Spanish Exam
In the fall, he will be attending Fayetteville State University where he will major in engineering.
“Class of 2025, the world we are stepping into is big, messy, beautiful and full of possibilities,” James Brown read as part of his valedictorian speech during rehearsal.
James Brown’s father believes he played a huge role in his son’s perfect attendance.
“I started working at 4 years old in tobacco with my family and I’ve just always worked,” James Brown Jr. said. “It’s always been in me to work. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”
Even on the day that James Brown lost his grandmother, Annie S. Pitt, in a house fire, he still went to school, his mother Annetta Brown said.
Before her death last year, Pitt was eager to see James Brown walk across the stage.
“He said, ‘I promised my grandmother that I would do well in school and that’s what I’m going to do,’” Annetta Brown said.
Now heading to college, James Brown hopes he never misses a day of class in college given that his parents will not be around to help.
“I’m having an alarm ready,” he joked. “Just being dedicated every day.”
James Brown’s perfect attendance comes as a senior at Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School in Little Rock also recently earned a perfect score on the National Spanish Exam.
Jayden Bledsoe is one of only 201 students across the country to score perfectly on the National Spanish Exam and the only student in Arkansas to have done it.
