A highschool within the suburbs of New York Metropolis will likely be seeing double on commencement day this weekend: Among the many almost 500 college students in its graduating class, 30 are twins.
It’s a decent knit group. A number of the college students at Lengthy Island’s Plainview-Previous Bethpage John F. Kennedy Excessive College have identified one another since kindergarten, their mother and father assembly by an area twins membership. Some even nonetheless plan household holidays collectively.
Nowadays, a few of the twins are on a gaggle textual content chain, which has helped them deal with their newfound notoriety as commencement day approaches.
“Honestly when we’re together, the room is electric,” stated Sydney Monka, as she attended commencement rehearsal with the opposite twins earlier this week. “We’re all very comfortable around each other and we all have these shared experiences so we’re all bouncing off each other. It’s really cool.”
Twin siblings Liam Heaney, left, and Emma Heaney attend rehearsal for Plainview-Previous Bethpage John F. Kennedy Excessive College’s commencement ceremony at Hofstra College in Hempstead, N.Y., on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photograph/Philip Marcelo)
They’re twins however not an identical
Save for the shared final names, although, the pairs could also be onerous to identify as they stroll the stage Sunday at their highschool commencement, held at Hofstra College in Hempstead.
The scholars are all fraternal twins — which means born from completely different eggs and sperm — so none of them are an identical. Lots of the twins are completely different genders.
That doesn’t make the bonds any much less tight, says Bari Cohen, who’s attending Indiana College within the fall.
“Especially for boy-girl twins, a lot of people think it’s just, like, siblings, but it’s more than that, because we go through the same things at the same time,” she stated of her brother, Braydon Cohen, who’s headed to the College of Pittsburgh.
Most, when prodded, give a playful shrug on the curious phenomenon in the highschool, which is situated in an prosperous, largely white district about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Manhattan.
“I guess there’s just something in the water,” stated Emily Brake, who’s attending the College of Georgia, echoing a standard chorus among the many twins.
“We’re all just very lucky. I think it’s just a coincidence,” added her sister, Amanda Brake, who will likely be attending Ohio State College.
Others acknowledge there’s greater than Mom Nature at work.
Arianna Cammareri stated her mother and father had been making an attempt for years to have children and in vitro fertilization was their final possibility. Again then, it was extra widespread than it’s now for IVF infants to be twins or triplets.
There additionally could also be a genetic element at play.
“There’s a few twins in our family, like I have cousins that are twins, so I guess that raised the chances of having twins,” added the incoming freshman at Stony Brook College, additionally on Lengthy Island.
Commencement day was twice as particular for households at a college in New Jersey. That is as a result of six pairs of twins will get their diplomas collectively at Barnegat Excessive College. So what’s subsequent for them? NBC New York’s Ted Greenberg studies.
Different colleges with giant units of twins
Giant cohorts of twins are usually not uncommon at Plainview-Previous Bethpage. The highschool had back-to-back graduating courses with 10 units of multiples in 2014 and 2015, and subsequent 12 months’s incoming freshmen class has 9 units of twins, in keeping with faculty officers.
Among the many different colleges across the nation with huge units of graduating twins are Clovis North Excessive College in Fresno, California, with 14 pairs, and Eleanor Roosevelt Excessive College in Greenbelt, Maryland, with 10 pairs.
Final 12 months, a center faculty in suburban Boston had 23 units of twins in its graduating class, although that is nonetheless far shy of the file for many multiples in the identical tutorial class. New Trier Excessive College in Winnetka, Illinois, had a whopping 44 twin pairs and a set of triplets in 2017, in keeping with Guinness World Data.
After commencement
A lot of the twins at Plainview-Previous Bethpage are heading off to completely different schools.
An exception is Aiden and Chloe Manzo, who will each attend the College of Florida, the place they’ll reside in the identical dormitory on campus and each examine enterprise, although with completely different majors.
“We’re going to see each other a lot,” Chloe stated wryly.
“Deep down, my mom knew it would be easier if we went to the same school,” she added. “You know, like moving in, graduation, going to sports games.”
Some have been apprehensive about dwelling removed from their longtime accomplice in crime.
Emma and Kayla Leibowitz will likely be attending Binghamton and Syracuse College, respectively. The fifth era twins say they’re already planning for frequent visits although the upstate New York colleges are some 80 miles (130 kilometers) aside.
“I think it’s gonna be really weird because we really do everything together. She’s my best friend. I really can’t do anything without her,” stated Emma.
“We’re sleeping over each weekend. I’m coming for soccer video games — like all of it,” stated Kayla.
Others have been trying ahead to getting some respiration room.
Sydney and Kayla Jasser stated they’re each finding out trend design — however at completely different schools. Sydney is attending the College of Delaware whereas Kayla will likely be attending Indiana College.
“We could have went to the same college, but we just wanted to be able to be independent since we’ve been with each other forever,” Kayla stated. “It’s good to get out there and have our own experiences.”
