Double your pleasure; double your fun

Don’t worry if you think you’re seeing double. Northwestern is home to many sets of twins. We all know that two heads are better than one, so what really goes on in the minds of these people who appear to live such similar lives?
Juniors Heather and Lynda Piatt can read each other’s minds. “We can have an entire conversation without speaking!” Heather joked. Heather and Lynda are identical twins who admit that they are best friends and would have really disliked separating for college. “Up until the summer before we started school here, we had spent every single day together,” Heather said. “We would miss each other if we went to different colleges!” Lynda added.
Although they have similar interests, Heather and Lynda do recognize their differences.  “Lynda usually dresses up a lot more than I do. I’m really cheap, so I don’t have as many clothes as she does. I just borrow hers a lot.” Heather admited.
Sophomores Tara and Tanya Woodward enjoy being identical twins. “My favorite part about being a twin is sharing experiences and life stages with someone else and sharing inside jokes,” Tara said.
With different life goals, Tara and Tanya have found their niche at Northwestern and their identity both together and separately. “Tara is majoring in accounting and I’m majoring in Education,” said Tanya. “I think [Tara] is slightly more driven than I am, but she pushes me where I am weak and I challenge here where she needs to be challenged.” If struggling to self identify, why attend the same college? “We actually didn’t want to go to the same college – but we both liked Northwestern. It didn’t help that people thought we were the same person who changed clothes a lot,” Tanya said with a laugh. “We both felt like God was calling us to NW,” Tara added.
Freshmen Jenni and Jada Vander Veen, identical twins from Minnesota, came to Northwestern together but for different reasons. “We didn’t choose to come to NWC because of each other. We came here because of our own individual reasons,” Jenni said. “But we do enjoy having each other on campus and living in the same hall.” Jada echoed her sister whole heartedly. “Our personalities are completely different,” added Jada, “but I like being a twin because I will always have my best friend around.”
Just because they are both on the same campus does not mean that they don’t live their lives independently of each other. Since they both participate in different sports, Jenni and Jada have formed their own circles of friends at college.
Freshmen Rebekah and Sarah Stofer are fraternal twins. Although they do not look exactly alike, they share the close bond that the other twins on campus do. “We’re almost always together, and we share a lot and know how to work together,” said Rebekah. “The most obvious differences between us are that we participate in different aspects within the hobbies we share; for music, we play different instruments, in theater, she acts while I do backstage stuff. Academically, she is stronger in the sciences while I am stronger in the arts. Our personalities are also different,” said Sarah.
Although most twins look similar enough that it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart, it’s clear that not all twins desire to live exactly the same as their sibling. This is a good thing; for once you’ve figured out what is unique about each twin on campus, you’ll have a much easier time telling them apart.