Double diplomas
Vilonia twins reach end of high school years
By Tammy Keith
Vilonia High School students and twin sisters Lauren, left, and Lyndsey Harrison will graduate together Saturday.
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LITTLE ROCK — Lyndsey Harrison, 17, is used to leading the way for her twin sister, Lauren, but the alphabet changed that for graduation.
The twins will graduate from Vilonia High School on Saturday, and they will walk across the stage in alphabetical order. That means Lauren gets her diploma first.
Lyndsey, who is older by about a minute, said, “I’m the more dominant one and older. I’ve always been the one to lead, and that’s good and bad, I guess, but she graduates before me.” “Lyndsey is so mad,” their mother, Tina Harrison, said laughing.
Lyndsey admitted, smiling, that it’s true.
Harrison said Lyndsey was the one who led the way when they were going to a new school or in any situation.
Lauren said of Lyndsey: “She’s more independent - I’m very dependent on her. I rely on her. She’s very motherly, I’d say. I ask Lyndsey’s advice on guys and stuff.” Harrison said, “She’ll do more what Lyndsey tells herthan me.”
The girls, who are fraternal, not identical twins, said people still get confused.
Lauren said, “People even now, they mistake us. They can’t get the right name with the right girl.”
But they looked more alike as children, Lyndsey said, and sometimes it gave teachers fits.
Lauren recalled that in second grade on April Fool’s Day, they switched classes.
“The kids noticed, but the teachers didn’t,” Lauren said.
Harrison recalled a seventhgrade teacher, Terina Atkins, who didn’t realize for a while she had the girls in separate classes.
Atkins had been on maternity leave, and when she came back, “she noticed something weird,” Lyndsey said.
“She said, ‘You told me yesterday your name was Lauren,” Lyndsey recalled.
“She thought we were one person.”
Harrison said at parent-teacher conferences Atkins told her she couldn’t figure out why “this girl” was changing clothes.
The sisters have been involved in activities together most of their lives. They played softball and peewee basketball, which their dad, Paul, coached. They were cheerleaders together for years, and when they were younger their mother was the cheerleading coach.
Band is where they were the most diverse - Lauren played clarinet and Lyndsey played trombone.
“Academically Lyndsey is definitely more talented,” Lauren said.
Lyndsey said, “I’m more ...
“Ambitious,” Lauren said, finishing Lyndsey’s sentence.
Harrison said Lyndsey is“more driven. She wants it.”
Lyndsey is even driven on Lauren’s behalf. She once stayed up until 4:30 a.m. prodding and helping Lauren get a paper finished for school.
“I wanted her to get it done - I wanted her to get a good grade,” Lyndsey said.
Then Lauren made a better grade than Lyndsey, which wasn’t exactly competitive Lyndsey’s plan.
“Lyndsey pushes me,” Lauren said, adding that it’s a good thing.
Lauren said although they obviously have different personalities, “We’re very close. We’re each other’s best friend.”
Once they even dated twins, Tom and Tim Sweeney, which the girls said was fun.
“We share a car - we share everything,” Lauren said. They each had on the other’s shirt the day of the interview - both green.
Lyndsey said when she was growing up, it was harder being a twin.
“I felt like there were two of me. I’m totally OK with it now. Iwouldn’t change it for anything.” “I wish everyone could experience it,” Lauren said of being a twin.
Lyndsey doesn’t necessarily want to have twins when she has children, but Lauren said she hopes she does.
The young women are headed to Arkansas Tech University after college.
Lyndsey felt like Lauren wasdragging her feet, so Lyndsey applied to Tech for Lauren.
Lauren just laughed good-naturedly about that.
Although their roles have somewhat reversed. Lauren is looking forward to trying something new and getting out on her own.
Lyndsey is a little apprehensive about leaving “my comfort zone.”
Lyndsey enjoys working with children, so she’s considering a teaching career.
“I’ve been thinking about early childhood education. I love kids. I mentor here with our Excel program. Anything to do with kids, I love it,” Lyndsey said.
Lauren, who said she enjoys working with junior high-age children, said her career path is uncertain. “To be totally honest, I have no idea. I’m not even crazy about the whole college thing.”
But she’ll follow Lyndsey to Tech.
She might be lost without her, and besides, “I’ve never had just my set of clothes,” Lauren said.
This article was published Sunday, May 11, 2008.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 140, 147 on 05/11/2008
