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First Bell: Twin Sisters, Separate Schools

Fraternal twin sisters Megan (left) and Kendall Smith.

 

The First Bell series is a growing collection of stories from students, parents, and educators about pivotal experiences in education. To tell your story, email amy@wrkf.org with "My First Bell" in the subject line or tweet with the hashtag #MyFirstBell.

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Judging from the way that the fraternal twin sisters laugh and finish each other’s sentences, you might think Megan and Kendall Smith had never left each other’s side. 

But, as Kendall told fellow LSU student Morgan Louviere, they started going to separate schools — and leading separate lives — in the third grade. 

Megan got into a private school and Kendall didn’t. 

Megan says they didn’t really get different “educations” as a result, but getting their education “differently” did make them who they are. 

MEGAN: We took a lot of the same classes, just at different times. I had to take Spanish from 3rd grade to 12th grade -- so I would take her Spanish for her. Cause like, all her homework, she had no idea what was going on. Going into it for only a year, she was like, ‘This is stupid.’” I’m like, ‘Ok, I can do it! Let me do it!’ Like I would do all her homework. 

And then, once we got older, she had extracurriculars  after school and same with me, so even though we would get off of school -- she got off at 2 p.m., I got off at 4 p.m. --

We still did not see each other 'til like 9-o-clock at night... So, it was really like having a foreign exchange student in the house.

KENDALL: We still didn’t see each other 'til like 9-o-clock at night.

MEGAN: 'Cause I would go to cheer from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and she had band from 7 p.m. to  p.m.. So, then we’d come home, do our homework, eat, we poked each other while we sat at the table and made mom mad, and then we went to bed.  

So, it was really like having a foreign exchange student in the house. Basically, I mean literally that’s what it was. It was weird, but it wasn’t weird to us ‘cause we’d been doing it so long. 

KENDALL: People from my school, if they had a twin, they would be right there with them. So I think that it was, a lot of people were like, ‘why do you guys go to different schools?’ then you have to explain the whole story, ‘well, from third grade we went to different schools.’ So, a lot of people that I met, I think they were shocked about  why our parents did it and why it ended up that way.

MEGAN: You’d be surprised though, in my graduating class alone, I had four sets of twins and all four of our siblings went to a different school. So, it wasn’t weird for me cause all of my friends had seen all four sets of twins all go their separate ways by the time we graduated, so. 

We had prom the same day one year. So, that means my dad has to take me to prom pictures, my mom had to take my sister, so they couldn't see both of us. So I think it was more of a toll on them emotionally.

Prom -- we had prom the same day one year. So, that means my dad has to take me to prom pictures, my mom had to take my sister, so they couldn't see both of us. So I think it was more of a toll on them emotionally, I guess you could say. But Kendall and I were just like, 'Ok, well, someone needs to take me here -- I have a band competition to go to/I have a cheer competition to go to.' And they're like, 'Ok, just get in a car and go.'

KENDALL: I think my parents wanted us to go to the same school. My mom always says that she regrets not letting us go to the same school because we still fight like we're in elementary school because we didn't have that time together trying to figure out things.

When we applied for college, I think three schools out of what we applied we applied the same. And when we both got into LSU and we both fell in love with it, my mom, she said was happy that we both picked the same school. First of all, it's easier on them, and second we could still live together and figure things out, just because she likes when we're close and when we're not bickering. 

I don't think that what my parents did was a bad thing. I think the way we grew up was perfectly fine -- even if they don't think that. So I think if I were to have twins I would do the same thing: different classes and maybe even different schools just so they can become their own person, and they're not dependent on that (other) person 24/7. 

We got to be our own individual person. Like she was in the band, I was in cheerleading.

MEGAN: I mean, we got to be our own individual person. Like she was in the band, I was in cheerleading. We never had to do that, like, butt heads, like ‘oh she’s in the sport, I wanna be in a sport.’ Or, ‘oh because she has musical talent, I need to go learn how to play an instrument.' I never had the brains to learn music noes, and she could do it like a wiz. So we each got to become our own person, follow our own path and in the end, our paths reconverged. Is that even a word? 

Fraternal twin sisters Kendall and Megan Smith now go to school together at LSU. 

The Smith Sisters told their story to fellow LSU student Morgan Louviere, who has always gone to the same schools as her twin sister. 

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The First Bell series is a growing collection of stories from students, parents, and educators about pivotal experiences in education. To tell your story, email amy@wrkf.org with "My First Bell" in the subject line or tweet with the hashtag #MyFirstBell.