The world of brothers, sisters and twins

Graduation is over but the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow High School had an unusual statistic with its graduating class. One third of its seniors were twins. Given the graduating class was 18 students, the actual set of twins was three.

According to Stanford University, as of 2003, there are on average 16 sets of twins born per 1,000 births in the United States. It is estimated one in 250 natural pregnancies will result in twins.

Given that Hanna has a population of about 900 people total, the odds of having this many twins in one graduating class should be rare.

Is there something in the water in Hanna?

No, because two sets moved to Hanna.

Only Amy and Madison Campbell were born and raised in Hanna all their years. Although they look incredibly similar, they are not identical. It helps that Madison often wears glasses which does set her apart.

Both Amy and Madison were outstanding athletes and have won tremendous recognition from the state in sports before they graduated.

"We always got compared and it pushed us to competition level," Madison said. "It has been nice to have someone to go through the high school experience with you in all our activities, but you did need some space eventually."

"When we go our own way, it is going to hurt a little," Amy said. "I am going away to another state for college so it won't be long before this happens."

"It is going to be rough for a little bit," Amy said. "We have said before that we need space and that we have had enough of each other, but you know deep down, we will miss each other."

"You can never have enough of your sister," Amy said.

The Campbell twins graduated with a 4.0.

"We both worked hard and if one was struggling, the other would say, 'let me help you'," Madison said.

"We had struggles in different subjects, but we are always there to help each other," Amy said. "If I don't understand something, she will always help me and I do the same for her. It just worked out that way."

Amy got hurt this season in basketball and was sidelined. mid-season.

"I knew once I was out for a while, I made a decision to help her become a better athlete," Amy said. "I told her what I would do if I was out there and it really benefitted her."

"It wasn't easy to see her hurt and see she couldn't go through her sports season the way that I was able to," Madison said. "So I knew she relied on me to learn from her to help the team. It was a remarkable time actually."

Chandler and Mina Myers, a brother and sister twin set, were born outside Hanna and lived mostly in Kentucky and look nothing alike.

"We don't get much of the twin thing," Mina said. "People forget we are twins most of the time. We haven't been int the same classes since the 1st grade."

The reason the Myers twins have not shared classes is Chandler was held back in 1st grade. This year he worked hard to where he had all the credits to graduate with the class with his sister.

"With him catching up, we were able to walk across the stage with together," Mina said. "It was really nice because weren't able in past years."

"It was really the last big thing we got to do together in school," Chandler said. "Now we will go off and do our own adventures in the world."

"It has been me and him most of our lives," Myers said. "People have come and went but the two of us have always been a constant in each other's lives."

They came to Hanna in September of 2017.

"We came my freshman year and Chandler's 8th grade year, so we have been here our whole high school years," Mina said. "The town and school have always been very accepting of us."

Mina said it is unusual to be around so many other twins.

"It is awesome to be around so many other twins here, because we haven't really met that many twins, especially boy and girl," Mina said. "We have only met one set of boy and girl twins in our lives." Like the Campbell twins Hannah and Aliva Christie look very similar but would not be called identical. The girls came to Hanna at 5th grade.

"It is definitely an unique experience," Hannah said. "We share a lot of memories together and it makes life more fun. There were some challenges, but we always got through them." Hannah was active in sports during high school whereas Aliva opted out after middle school. This made Hannah more high profile in the school.

"Aliva is the quiet one, so I don't think she minded," Hannah said. "But we are always there for each other," Aliva said. "We are really close."

The girl set of twins said a benefit is the ability to share clothes. The group said they all relate to each other well since they share being twins.

"Being siblings, the school just sends one thing like permission slips home with you," Mina said. "They just send one for the both of you."

"You always have study buddy for everything," Madison said. "We reminded each other of what classwork has to be done."

"Yeah, we never forgot we had tests," Amy said.

The twins said there can be drawbacks.

"There is competition," All sets of twins said in unison.

The group also said that it was often hard to have a personal identity because people wanted to group them together.

You are grouped together more often than not," Amy said.

"But when it all comes down to it, we make it work," Mina said.

"I recommend being a twin to everybody," Aliva said. "You always have a buddy."

"Being a twin is a great experience and we were lucky to have the adventures we did together," Madison said.

Brothers taught by sisters

Hanna Elementary School might not have three sets of twins in their school this year, but in an unusual twist, three different 4th grade brothers, Cade Weatherford, Aiden Scott and Garret Widdison, being taught by Sarah Jones have three 6th grade brothers being taught by her sister Jackie Jones. The 6th grade boys are Carson Weatherford, Noah Scott and Hunter Widdison.

It was Aiden who told his teacher, he thought it was an interesting fact that the younger brothers were being taught by the slightly younger sister.

The sisters are two years apart."It was just something I noticed," Aiden said. "I thought it was cool."

"It is cool, because all three of us are friends in 6th grade," Carson said. "And all three of them are friends."

The Jones sisters said this had never happened before.

"It was also noticeable because the boys all hang around together a bit in each class and then outside, all the brothers play sports together," Sarah said.

"I think it was a real unique situation because honestly their personalities are so uncommon," Jackie said. "The 4th graders are more talkative and the 6th graders are more even keel. And all the brothers are high achieving academically."

The 6th grade boys said they can tell the two teachers are sisters.

"They both have real energy and very talkative," Carson said. "You can see they are sisters."

Jackie and Sarah grew up in Hanna and love that are teaching in the town they grew up in.

Now that the 6th graders are moving on to middle school, the 4th graders say it will be different.

"It won't be as competitive," Garrett said.

When asked if there was anything difficult about going to school together they said not being able to play together this year outside football or basketball because COVID restrictions kept the classes separate.

"They are a built in team," Sarah said.

"Very much so," Jackie agreed. "They really are excellent athletes and students."

The sisters do acknowledge during the school year, they are competitive as to whom has the better and well behaved students.

The sisters knew they were going to be teachers at an early age.

"I was in 3rd grade when I got a chalkboard for a Christmas present," Jackie said. "We would draw a line down the middle of it and we would each have our own side. Then we would line up our stuffed animals and teach them."

"I think my stuffed animals were more well behaved, because she used to yell at them a lot more," Sarah said smiling.

"Its nice honestly having your sister in the same building and the same profession," Jackie said. "I think one of the fun things we both do, is that we like to tell stories about our childhood and about going to school. It gives us a connection with the kids and enjoying every minute of it."

"I think the story telling has really helped us really be kids and be ourselves," Hunter said.

The 6th graders had Sarah when they were in 4th grade. When the 6th grade brothers were posed the question on which teacher they liked better, Carson answered for all the 6th graders.

"Mrs. Jones of course," Cason said smiling.