MILWAUKEE -- Showing up to school every day might not sound hard, but for the students living in the heart the violence in Milwaukee's Sherman Park this summer parents say it was a difficult decision to start back.
Those who had the best attendance this year got a special surprise, a free night at the Bucks game.
Right before parents were getting ready to send their off to school this August violence erupted in Sherman Park. There were two days of looting and fires in the northwest Milwaukee neighborhood. As people cleaned up the neighborhood, parents were packing backpacks and wondering how their kids would handle going back.
"Seeing all the buildings burnt down and things like that, how would they adjust to it? Would it be OK to send them back? You know," said parent Jasmine Ross.
But Ross got her kids ready for the new school year and this semester her two daughters never missed a day.
"Ain't missed a day at all," Ross said proudly.
Neither did 8-year-old Miguel Ornelas. His mom, Latisha Ornelas, said she prayed every day she sent him to school.
Now he and 200 of his friends at Townsend Elementary are watching the Bucks game Monday night for free.
"It's crazy, I haven't did anything like this before and it make me proud," Ornelas said.
Phoenix Investors gave the tickets to the students and their families with the best attendance at the Sherman Park elementary school.
"I think our community has been through a tough time this summer, especially everyone that has lived in this neighborhood, and if this is a retreat and an opportunity for them to have a great time with their family that's the whole goal," said Ryan Trost, an executive at Phoenix Investors.
And the kids could not be happier to watch a little basketball during their Thanksgiving break.
Besides getting free tickets to the game, the kids also got a free T-shirt and food.
