There was that day last year in seventh grade when Paige Stulginskis woke up with a nasty sore throat.

The 14-year-old Hickory Hills girl even asked her mom Elizabeth to call Conrady Junior High School and let officials there know she wouldn't be coming to school.

Then it hit her like a lead balloon. The streak! That streak of consecutive days of attending school that she had worked so hard the last eight years to maintain.

She took some pain medicine and asked dad Glen to drive her to school.

Streak intact. Cal Ripken Jr. would be so proud.

"That was the closest I've ever come to missing a day of school," said Paige, who hopes to remain healthy until she graduates this May from Conrady Junior High School. Paige's twin sister Tori will also graduate in May.

Paige hasn't missed a day of school since she enrolled in North Palos School District 117 nine years ago. Tori, who went a couple of years without missing a day, hasn't been quite as lucky.

Paige says there "really is no secret to my perfect attendance."

But Tori begs to differ. "She stole all my nutrients while we were in the womb," she said in jest.

Even mom Elizabeth has her take on Paige's streak: "Timing is part of it," she said. "The few times she did get sick occurred when she was on school break or an extended weekend.

"It's also probably because I don't clean the house everyday so she perhaps built up an immunity to germs," Elizabeth joked.

Whatever the reason, Paige is pretty proud of her accomplishment. "It is pretty cool," she said. "Some of my friends think it's crazy (to not miss a day of school) while others think it's cool."

She admits she never really thought much of her perfect attendance streak until a few years ago when she entered junior high school. "Then it just kind of dawned on me that I hadn't missed a day of school. It became a bigger deal to me and I tried to keep the streak going."

"It is kind of amazing that I have gone this far without missing a day of school," Paige said. "I hope I'm not jinxing myself."

She said she received a couple of certificates over the years while she was in the lower grades for perfect attendance. Elizabeth said it would be nice if her daughter could receive "some kind of recognition in front of her classmates."

Paige and Tori share a love of learning (both are A/B students) and a love of horses and horseback-riding. The girls ride five days a week on their American saddle-bred horses. The name of Paige's horse is Rio, while the name of Tori's horse is Cosmo.

One benefit to never missing a day of school is that Paige has been a steady source of help with homework assignments for peers who were sick.

"I'm always helping my friends with letting them know what homework assignments are due," she said. "They really appreciate that."