Whitman Student Finds Perfection

Here’s a reasonable forecast about Ryan Naughton’s future:

Whatever the soon-to-be graduate sets his mind to, he’s probably going to achieve it.

Ryan, 17, is just coming off a week in which he was recognized for perfect attendance. The future meteorology student didn’t miss a day of school in 13 years, from kindergarten through the last day of high school.

When the award was announced at a ceremony last week, several in the audience gasped. “A lot of people didn’t believe me,” Ryan said. A fellow student jokingly texted him at the ceremony, ‘Oh, this is BS’,” Ryan said.

The recognition marked the achievement of a goal that he first focused on in third or fourth grade. That’s when he realized he wanted to continue his streak, having already won certificates for perfect attendance each year.

Setting the goal is one thing. Accomplishing it was another. There were days he was tempted to stay home, or at least arrive a little late, something else he never did. “Waking up in the morning and thinking, ‘Oh, I have a math test or two AP tests,’ I didn’t want to go, or waking up after lacrosse practice and not being able to move.” But off he went anyway.

His mother, Christine, said Ryan is very healthy, only occasionally getting “the two-hour flu” or suffering from seasonal allergies.

The distractions of senior year could be tough, Ryan acknowledges. “On senior cut day, everybody’s at the beach, texting me. It’s an 80-degree day but I was sitting in class, sweating.”

Ryan said he was especially motivated to get to school because of the class taught by English teacher .

Though Pipolo’s class came at the end of the day, it was enough to get Ryan there. “I owed it all to Pip getting to school on time. It was just I was looking forward to getting to his class. I hated reading, hated poetry until I had his class.”

Ryan knows how he achieved his goal. “Commitment’s a major one, a desire to set your mind to something and do it. It’s all about setting goals and achieving them. It’s overcoming obstacles. There’s always going to be obstacles but you have to overcome them,” he said.

Aside from playing attack on the lacrosse team, Ryan also was involved in Boy Scouts, refereed soccer matches on weekends , worked at 7-Eleven, and, as his mother put it, “dabbled in a lot of stuff.”

His commitment earned him another honor, Wildcat Hero Award, given to someone who “sets a good example, someone who sets a good example for teammates, exemplifies good sportsmanship, able to lead, puts team goals ahead of own personal goals...”

That example-setting extends to two younger siblings, sister Shealyn, 12,  and brother Nevan, 16, both of whom have perfect attendance.

He is headed to Plymouth State University in the fall, and hopes to eventually work with the National Weather Service, “backstage, behind the scene,” his father, Michael, said. Tornadoes are of a particular interest to Ryan. “I want to go out West. It’s weird, because when I was little, I was afraid of wind. But I started watching stormchaser shows and all the shows on the National Geographic channel and I got hooked,” he said.