A pair of identical twins Tia and Tyra Smith graduated high school as co-valedictorians.
The 18-year-old sisters graduated with 4.0 GPAs, each of them acing 12 Advanced Placement courses. They gave a combined speech to members of their graduating class at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in Chicago, According to Good Morning America.
“I was glad it was both of us,” Tyra told GMA. “We really worked together in order to be where we were. It was the last thing we could do together in school before we have to leave each other.”
Consistently attending teachers’ office hours, was the key to their success, the sisters told GMA.
Tyra said she loves biotechnology and problem-based learning math, while Tia loved AP U.S. history and human geography.
Tia and Tyra were active in numerous extracurriculars also. Both were involved in their school’s gallery club, and even started the school’s first black history art gallery. Tia and Tyra also created and presented a community awareness campaign for kidney disease at the STEM Challenge Showcase in Illinois.
Both sisters love theater, screenwriting and crocheting will nurture their interests at college in the fall, GMA reported.
“Theater 1 has been the most rewarding and the most influential in shaping the person I am today,” Tia Smith said.
Tyra will join Northwestern University, while Tia heads off to Duke University. Both sisters will major in theater, while Tyra will double major in economics and Tia in statistics.
“Typically what we’ve seen is one valedictorian,” the sisters’ mom, Lemi-Ola Erinkitola, told GMA. “I was glad because they’re going to separate colleges and it put a nice, finishing touch on their years together academically.”
“It was very, very emotional and goes beyond just the title,” said Erinkitola, an educator who owns tutoring and consulting practice, The Critical Thinking Child. “It was the fact they can share that platform together and a memory they can carry throughout their journeys in life.”
Lindblom’s assistant principal, Karen Fitzpatrick Carpenter, said the Smith sisters are real examples of stellar students at the school.
“They have been dedicated since they entered the doors to our academic program,” Carpenter told “GMA.” “We only have all honors and AP classes, so for them to go this [far] is extraordinary.”
Both sisters didn’t decide what career they will choose, but they do know what they want out of life.
“I know that I want to be happy,” Tyra Smith said.
Tia Smith has a bullet journal where she lists her future goals.
“The first thing [is] write, draw and edit a comic book series,” she said. “Second is direct at least one August Wilson play. [Then], own a theater, and make theater more accessible.”