Double the pleasure at Summit Academy

Summit Academy elementary Principal Bob Zentner hasn’t ever seen anything like it in his 37 years of working in education.

“This is pretty odd,” he said. “It’s got to be a Guinness world record or something.”

Summit Academy, 1285 East 13200 South, boasts 25 sets of twins this year, 19 of them in the elementary grades. The school adds in a set of triplets as well.

“Some are in the same class, some aren’t. It’s just what works best for them and their parents,” he said.

Second-grade teacher Sherri Wiggins has a set of twins in her homeroom class and another set in her language arts class.

“I’ve learned to ask, ‘Which one are you?’ if I’m confused, and the other kids usually do better at telling them apart than I do,” she said. “Other than that, we treat them like other students.”

Fourth-grader Crew Jensen has blue eyes, while his twin Will has brown eyes. They say they get along, are in the same class and share the same friends. They also have twin preschool brothers, which their mother Kim said is “awesome.”

“They always have a playmate to throw a football to,” she said. “It’s harder for them maybe to have their own space and create their own individuality. They do get asked, ‘Who are you?’ as people are learning to tell them apart.”

Their mother said part of the reason she keeps them in the same class is so they won’t be as competitive between classes and assignments and instead, they can work together.

After years of having the same classrooms, fifth-graders Maddie and Sophie Chernosky decided to be in separate classrooms this year.

“I wanted to see what it was like to be separate from Maddie and do the homework by myself, and it’s been better,” Sophie said.

Maddie said that it is harder to compare homework this way, but she likes it as well. “It’s probably harder for our mom to keep up with different homework assignments, but we’re making some new friends,” she said.

Sixth-grader Kloee Sexton said even though it can get on their nerves when people confuse them, she likes being a twin with Halle.

“I love it; I always have my best friend there for me. We share things, friends, ideas, secrets and the same birthday party,” she said.

Halle acknowledges it can be a challenge for her parents, especially since her two younger sisters and brother are triplets, but they do pretty well.

“They have all four of us girls in dance and we love it, and my younger sisters do tumbling,” she said. “Jack plays basketball and flag football, so my mom has to get everyone to where they need to be.”

Kloee adds in one other trial.

“Going grocery shopping is hard,” she said. “We all do a big shopping trip together to find things that everyone likes. Other than that, we’re lucky that we always have someone in our family we love and can play with.”