San Diego Padres star Manny Machado surprises Paradise Hills elementary school students

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has become a real issue for many schools. 

A Voice of San Diego report cited a what was an average absentee rate of 11% before the pandemic rose to 28% last year in San Diego schools. 

To combat the issue, San Diego Unified School District, in partnership with the San Diego Padres, launched a campaign called "Be a Pro and Always Go."

The “Be a Pro and Always Go” campaign challenged San Diego Unified schools to improve attendance from March 1 through April 30. Paradise Hills Elementary won the challenge, having made the highest percentage gain in attendance.

Monday students at the school were awarded certificates for winning the challenge, as well as Padres game tickets and Manny Machado bobbleheads.

As school and Padre administrators were congratulating the kids, Machado popped out from a room to the side of the assembly, surprising the students.

That set off a wild, excited scene that saw Machado walk into the sea of childhood screams of approval and smiles by high-fiving a group of students.

After speaking with the students about the value of attending class, Machado met with the media saying how proud of the students he was.

"They made the sacrifice, look at them today, it’s something they can enjoy and remember for rest of lives. If we can impact one, two, three, hundreds of kids then starting by one is the way to go and we’re doing it here.”

Machado went on to add, "it’s bigger than baseball. We gave them a little motivation,but they did it. They accomplished something, they were motivated to be the number one school and attendance went up through the roof.”

Paradise Hills Principal Steve Elizondo said the big picture hope is that this short term push for better attendance can lead to attending class being the norm for these students.

"These are habits that we are trying to build some of these kids that are 4 or 5 years old, they can learn now the importance of coming school everyday. That carries on to when they’re in elementary school, junio high, high school, and their career. It absolutely builds these habits when they’re young.”