12 Sets of Twins and 1 Set of Triplets Graduate from Illinois High School

A graduating class in Illinois had audience members seeing double last week.

Vernon Hills High School in Vernon Hills had 12 sets of twins and one set of triplets walking at the school’s graduation ceremony Thursday, according to WGN9 News.

The twins and triplets made up about 7-8% of the school’s graduating class, which had about 377 students, according to the Today show.

“We knew we had a lot of twins, but it wasn’t until our yearbook put a little section together, and these guys got their yearbooks a couple weeks ago, and we realized at that point that we had a lot of twins in the building," principal Jon Guillaume said on the NBC morning show, during a video appearance Tuesday alongside 7 sets of Vernon Hills High School's twins and their one set of triplets.

Guillaume, who also happened to have a twin sister named Josie, told WGN9 News it was special that there were so many siblings getting to experience this big life achievement together.

“I think the neat thing about twins, in general, is they can celebrate their uniqueness in one another while also having this special bond and special camaraderie,” he said.

"I know what they go through on a daily basis," he told Today. "We have a special connection."

He went on to note that twins can often stick together following high school graduation, like in the case of twins Heath and Hunter Field. The twins told WGN9 News that they will both attend Illinois Wesleyan University, where they will be roommates. 

“I think having a twin your first year, knowing someone on your first day of school and living with them for the first year, kind of gives you that safety net and confidence to make new friends and kind of enjoy this new chapter of life,” Heath said.

Identical twins David and Jacob Wang will also be going to the same school (University of Wisconsin Madison), though won't be rooming together. The brothers said on Today that they'll also have separate majors, Jacob studying Eegineering and David studying computer science.

"The decision was not entirely intentional, we just both just had a very similar list of colleges and we ended up going to the same one," Jacob said, joking that switching places to trick teachers — like the two did in elementary school — "wouldn't fly in college."

However, Guillaume also said that graduation is often the point when twins decide to begin their own separate paths — which is the case for several of the graduating siblings. “I think they realize at some point there’s going to be this little divergence and oftentimes, the end of high school is when that is,” he explained to WGN9.

This could be seen with the Irvin triplets, who told Today they were ready to experience life separately and would be going to three different schools; Kaley at Kansas State University, Ryan at University of Illinois, and Olivia at Davenport University.

“…It was just unique to see all of us have the same journey of applying to colleges but all going to different colleges in the end,” Olivia Irvin said to WGN9 News. “I think the only difference is next year there will be a lot more FaceTime calls instead of text messages throughout the day to one another."

Lizzy and Eric Eithel going to different schools too, they told Today. "We both wanted to explore and get out of Illinois so we decided to go west," said Lizzy. Funny enough, they didn't pick spots too far from one another; with Lizzy at the University of Utah and Eric at Idaho State University , the siblings will only be two hours away from one another.

"It's not that bad," Lizzy said, noting how the two would be flying out of the same Salt Lake City airport. "I'm definitely a little nervous [being separated from my brother]. I'm scared for him!"

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While there are quite a number of twins graduating at Vernon Hills High School, New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois holds the Guinness World Record, having had 44 sets of twins graduating in 2018, according to Today.

Last year, Mansfield Independent School District in Texas came close to the record, with 35 sets of twins and one set of triplets graduating all at once.