For twins that have shared clothes, birthdays and milestones for the past 18 years, college provides an opportunity for individual experiences and accomplishments.
This fall, Convent of the Sacred Heart seniors Emma and Maddie Church and Anneliese and Jessica Hummel will face college without the comfort of having their twins by their sides.
Identical twins Emma and Maddie will be 5,935 miles apart in the fall of 2015. While Maddie will spend her first semester at Southern Methodist University abroad in Switzerland, Emma will be on the other side of the globe at University of Southern California. The sisters agree that it will be difficult to live on different continents after spending so many years together.
“For all of our lives we’ve kind of had the same friends and done the same activities,” Emma said. “It’s going to be so weird when I call her on the phone and don’t understand her stories about her new Swiss friends and their adventures.”
While the Church sisters will be continents apart, fraternal twins Anneliese and Jessica will reside in the same state, Indiana. With Jessica at University of Notre Dame and Anneliese at Indiana University Bloomington, they will be a short 197 miles away from each other. This will be the first time that these two Sacred Heart “lifers” attend different schools.
“It will be strange not having her at the same school, since we’ve been together our whole lives, but she’ll only be three hours away so we will hopefully see each other often,” Jessica said.
While Emma and Maddie and Jessica and Anneliese will begin separate journeys when they start college in the fall, senior Emma Novick will have the comfort of having her twin, New Canaan High School senior Matty, close by.
After going to different high schools, Emma and Matty have both decided to attend Lafayette College and play on the Women’s Lacrosse team. Even though they do not plan on rooming together, Emma plans to share more memories on and off the field with her sister.
“Although we did not go to the same high school together, we went to middle school together and obviously live together. It will be nice to have a support system there and someone to always hang out with, but we are and will be our own people,” Emma said. “I am so excited to start this journey with my best friend.”
Though the Church and Hummel twins will not have the luxury of seeing each other everyday like the Novick sisters, they look forward to new experiences.
“Even though I’ll be in another country, I know I’ll be calling Emma on a daily basis to keep her updated and continue our daily talks. No amount of distance can truly keep us apart,” Maddie said.
– Cori Gabaldon, Staff Writer