One womb, two people and six pairs for a total of 12 people roaming the halls of Newton High School. People may be enlightened when they hear that they can cancel that eye appointment they had scheduled- they might actually be seeing double.

Unlike any other pair of twins attending the high school, sophomores Claire Preheim and Tessa Preheim have different birthdays. The two were born an hour apart and on completely different days, Nov. 4 and Nov. 5. Despite having separate birthdays, Tessa said that they are fairly similar in terms of personality and attitude.

“Our personalities are pretty much the same. We both try to be nice, kind and happy,” Tessa said. “I like to say that we try to take risks and that we try to be unique and different from everyone else.”

On the contrary, freshman Bryttan Adams said that she and sister Olivia Adams are complete opposites in terms of character and appearance. The pair possess completely different personalities; while Bryttan is quiet, she describes her sister as outgoing and social. Despite looking different, Olivia said a lot of people recognize the duo as twins.

“A lot of people call us ‘the twins’ or they addresses us as that,” Olivia said. “…I think it’s fine. I don’t really mind it as long as they are not taking it to an extreme that’s disrespectful or mean, then it doesn’t really bother me.”

While Claire and Tessa, and Bryttan and Olivia feel as if their identities are often combined, freshmen Fernando Campos Cisneros and Misael Campos Cisneros find separate appearances through their eyesight. Misael first required glasses in grade school and said that he since then finds them to be a defining factor.

“A lot of people did [recognize them as twins]. They [peers and teachers] all got confused until I got glasses- they started understanding and they could tell us apart,” Misael said.

Three pairs of twins at the high school consist of both a female and male sibling, including juniors Josh Edson and Maddie Edson, sophomores Elijah Edwards and MayLee Edwards and sophomores Krista Eagan and Ryan Eagan. Each duo finds that they are separated/distinguished from each other with the assistance of their genders. Often times, Josh said that he and Maddie are not even recognized as siblings.

“Our genders separate everything. We play different sports and we have different friends,” Josh said. “Even our personalities are different.”

Although being a twin includes continuous companionship, Claire finds the constant comparison to her sister to be a continuous struggle.

“It depends on the day. It is very hard sometimes to be compared to her- not because she’s bad- but because you never get to be your own person and have your own identity,” Claire said. “You’re always compared to her or you are just put into a group, but it’s also nice to have someone there.”