DaytonDailyNews.com

RIVERSIDE — School is a fact of day-to-day life for all young people beginning around the age of 5.

Going to school and showing up every school day without fail through high school graduation is a difficult feat for most students.

But, for the Carter sisters of Riverside, perfect attendance is something they can both add to their list of accomplishments.

Brittany, 24, graduated from Stebbins High School in 2002 and said she doesn't remember a time when she wasn't "challenging" herself.

"I'm a point-prover," Brittany said. "It's as simple as that. Both of my parents attempted to have perfect attendance through school but only made it through middle school. I wanted to do better than that."

And indeed, upon her graduation, Brittany had earned the distinction of being only the third student in Stebbins history to achieve perfect attendance all 13 years of her school career.

Meanwhile, Brittany's sister, Morgan, now 18, was busy following in her sister's footsteps. While Brittany's accomplishment was impressive, especially in light of her extracurricular activities and her ability to avoid illnesses, Morgan had a special challenge.

"Morgan was diagnosed with type one juvenile diabetes when she was just 16 months old," said Mitch Carter, the girls' dad. "Growing up with this disability is challenging for any child, but with all the medical appointments, it was really difficult for Morgan to maintain her perfect attendance record."

Morgan became dependent on daily insulin shots and, though her doctors told her several times she was very ill, she refused to give up.

"I remember doctors telling me that my organs were shutting down and that I would soon die several times," Morgan said. "But I just said I wasn't going to die — it wasn't in my plan."

And indeed, it wasn't. Morgan Carter graduated from Stebbins in June, not only outliving the doctors' prognoses, but also becoming the fourth graduate in Stebbins history to achieve perfect attendance for 13 years.

Both Morgan and Brittany attended schools in the Mad River district since kindergarten.

Martha Carter, the girls' mother, recalls a day when Morgan was a third-grader that she fell into a diabetic coma in the morning before school.

"Brittany found her on the floor in the kitchen. We rushed her to the hospital and they brought her back," Martha said. "And she made it to school before the bell rang at 9:10 a.m.!"

Today Brittany is still busy being a "point-prover," having finished her bachelor's degree in organizational leadership a few years ago and working full time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base while working on a master's degree.

And yes, she continues her dedication to "perfect" attendance by not missing work or even a day of college.

Morgan plans to enter the nursing program at Sinclair Community College in the fall and pursue a career in the medical field, hopefully to help other young people with diabetes and other challenging illnesses.

And, like her sister, Morgan's work ethic is strong.

"It started really as a challenge," Morgan said. "I had to follow in my older sister's footsteps and we've always been very close. But now, it's just a lifestyle for the entire family. We just never give up when we set out to do something."

Contact this reporter at (937) 475-8212 or banspach@woh.rr.com.