By Kirsten Kraus | Staff Writer
They sit next to each other, a cake in front of them, surrounded by their family and friends. After the familiar tune of Happy Birthday ends, sophomores Bridget and Sarah Lamm make their wishes and blow out the candles together. For the 16th time, the set of twins celebrates their birthday together, as they will for the rest of their lives.
“My twin has been my best friend ever since I can remember. She has always been there for me whenever I
needed her, and she will always be too,” Bridget said.
Although they are twins, they are two different people, so they have different interests and strengths.
“We are both in band, but we play different instruments. I play the clarinet while Bridget plays the flute. We are also stronger in different areas in school. I like English and I’m better at it, but I struggle in math and Bridget is good at it and likes it more,” Sarah said.
“I know Bridget better than I know Sarah, but they aren’t very much alike,” sophomore Selina Fernandez de Lara said. “They balance each other out. Bridget is more reserved and quiet while Sarah is louder and more outgoing. They are their own person and have different personalities, but they are sisters so they do share some qualities.”
Despite their differences, the Lamm twins do spend a lot of time with each other, both during school and at home.
“We don’t do everything together, but we do hand out,” Bridget said. “Sarah and I have the same group of friends, and the same lunch period, so we eat together everyday. When we get home we also do our homework together. I help her in math and she helps me in English, so between the two of us, we can usually manage to get all of our homework done.”
Being a twin can be fun, but juniors Kristen and Lindsey Bohanan have seen the down side of it too.
“Its actually really stressful being a twin. You’re always getting compared to each other, and since my sister and I are fraternal, nobody believes that we are actually twins,” Kristen said.
Even with great number of disadvantages that come with being a twin, the Bohanan sisters can agree that despite the bad, being a twin is something you can only wish for.
“I do like having a twin for the most part because I know she will cover for me if I need her too, but it does get kind of annoying because she will always use the ‘two minutes older than me’ bit,” Kristen said. “But having a twin is like having an instant best friend. Any time we start a new grade or a new school I don’t have to worry about not knowing anyone cause ill always have my sister.”
However, twins are still family, and families fight. Some families fight more often than others, but twins are no exception to the common family dispute.
“We don’t fight as bad as we used to, but it still happens. When I was about five we were playing barber shop, and fake cutting each other’s hair. I must have said something to her because she got mad and decided to cut my hair. She cut it so on one side of my head my hair was above my ear and on the other it was in the middle of my ear. I had to go get my hair cut really short, almost like a boys haircut,” Kristen said. “ When we were younger our fights were mainly physical, but now it’s more verbal, like yelling at each other.”
Some twins may be very alike, but Kristen and Lindsey couldn’t be more different.
“We don’t hang out with the same groups of people. Lindsey hangs out with her dancer friends and the preppy kids, and I hang out with the band kids. Were very different. Lindsey is more of a girly-girl type and she is in dance, and I’m more laid back and I’m in color guard,” Kristen said.
Twins at Johnson are not uncommon and are seen in every grade level. Seniors Briana and Katarina Chavez are yet another example of this.
“Having a twin is really great. Its like a sleepover with my best friend every night,” Briana said. Even when we fight, like all friends do, we make up quickly, like most sisters do.”
The Chavez sisters are both very knowledgeable and talented. Briana Chavez will be going to MIT next year and Kat will be attending Oberlin.
“Briana and Kat seem to have the same upbringing and how they act from a trust standpoint and a hard work ethic standpoint. In things like that I think they are very similar, but personality wise they are a little bit different. I think that, to me, Briana has a tendency to be a little bit more outgoing. Although they are both very studious and intelligent, Kat seems to be more of a quiet, introverted handworker, whereas Briana is more collaborative,” band director Alan Sharps said.
Briana and Kat are both in multiple AP classes and are part of Johnson’s top band, the Wind Ensemble. They participate in several of the same activities, despite the differences in their characters.
“Both girls are very dedicated to what they are doing both academically and musically. They have really high standards that they want to make sure they are extremely competent at whatever they do. I have had twins before who were very difficult to tell apart, not only visually, but it almost seems that they do the same things identically, but I don’t see that with the Chavez twins. I think they have more individuality than most twins do, but just because they have the same direction and goals there are a lot of similarities,” Sharps said.
