Wichita ? By the time life-long friends Isaac Johnston and Jeff Cotter are finished with medical school, they will have spent 21 straight years in school together.

“And that’s not even including our residencies,” Cotter said.

Newman University students Jeff Cotter, left, and Isaac Johnston will have spent 21 years together when they finish at Kansas University Medical Center.

Johnston, 21, and Cotter, 23, are seniors at Newman University and scheduled to graduate in May. In the fall, they will move to Kansas City, Kan., to attend Kansas University Medical Center.

Johnston’s smile is quick and frequent. Cotter lets Johnston do more of the talking. “If Jeff hadn’t been accepted to med school this year, I probably would have waited for him,” Johnston said.

The two have been friends since they attended second grade together at St. Francis of Assisi School in west Wichita. They went through eighth grade at St. Francis and attended Bishop Carroll High School together.

When asked why they appear to be two years apart and in the same school grade, Johnston likes to joke that Cotter failed finger-painting in kindergarten. Really, though, Cotter had an early birthday, meaning he was often the oldest in his class.

Throughout high school, they were involved in community service activities, helping to raise $10,000 their senior year to travel to Panama, where they helped build projects for those in need.

They dream of becoming doctors and eventually having a family practice.

They earned the same academic scholarship that enabled them to attend Newman. One contingency for college freshmen was living on campus, where they became roommates. Later, they became counselors for other residents.

During their years at Newman, Johnston and Cotter have been involved in making the university’s first online video, serving Mass, forming their own men’s basketball team through the YMCA and participating in a Piano Battle benefiting the United Way.

“We’re both pretty much the same about being involved,” Johnston said.

In the fall, the two will reprise their roles as roommates when they share a house or an apartment in Kansas City.

“KU was the only choice,” Cotter said, the university’s blue and crimson colors displayed on a foot cast from a basketball injury.

For Johnston, volunteering at care homes helped him to realize how much he wants to help people, especially the elderly. Eventually, he would like to be involved in hospice.

For Cotter, family members with a background in health care, a disabled uncle and nine years as a volunteer helping kids with disabilities made him realize he would like to focus on working with disabled people.

“Who knows?” Johnston said with a smile. “Maybe we’ll end up in the same practice.”