Karns High twins will graduate together with a dual honor

KARNS, Tenn. (WVLT) - One of the biggest high school achievements is being the best and brightest in the class. But what if students share that title?

For the Seibel twins, being co-valedictorian means a lot and was even unexpected.

“When they told us that we got valedictorian we look at them and we were like ‘you’re kidding.’ Is this a joke? Are you being serious? We looked at our principal and actually we were respectful, but we did say, ‘you’re kidding right,” fraternal twins, Jeanne and Emily Seibel said.

The two Karns beavers have always been musically gifted.

“It’s never quiet at our house, unless we’re focusing on homework,” Jeanne Seibel said.

They sing, act, hum, whistle and even harmonize around their home. They’re even good at the same subjects, though science comes easier to Jeanne and math is more Emily’s forte.

The twins said, “I [Emily] struggled more than she did in science classes. I had to- We would help each other. We did help each other. And it wasn’t that one of us was better at something than the other, it was just a different set of skills that were applied to the same thing.”

They’ve competed at times but also recognized their sisterhood is more important than winning something. “We can be really competitive. Usually if we’re competitive about something we make sure, that it’s something that in the end one of us beats out the other one there’s going to be no hard feelings,” Emily Seibel said.

Now they’re working on their speech together and planning to alternate reading aloud paragraphs when graduation comes on Friday, May 27 at 9 a.m.

They will also be roommates at Freed-Hardeman University in the fall. Jeanne wants to become a physical therapist and Emily aspires to major in math.

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