It is no surprise that at least some schools would have twins attending their classes but one of the schools in the US is going viral for having not 1, but 14 sets of twins including a pair of staff members who are twins. The Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, or UPREP for short, has just 441 students in between 6th & 12th grade but among them are 28 who happen to be twins. In a recent statement, the vice principal Jessalyn Radden noted that the 2 staff members are not teachers but they are in fact twins. She went on to add the fact that they also have a teaching assistant who is just one of two twins. As per the reports, there are 6 senior class members who are twins out of a total of 35. So why is this school in particular becoming a hub for twins around the world? Well, no one is sure what the reason behind it is. It just happened to work out that way. In a statement, Radden said now they’re just waiting on triplets, quads & so on.
One senior, Channing Pearson, even said when you walk through the halls, you might end up mistaking one twin for another due to the fact that they look so much alike. He went on to mention that it can often be confusing when both twins are playing the same sport. Just last year, they had three sets of twins playing on the same football team. So the coach would say twin get in & there would be 4 different kids getting off the bench & making their way onto the field. So needless to say, they have had to find ways around this such as calling them by their names. They have said while it can be confusing at times, it has also been a lot of fun as well. So just what is it that leads to a person having twins? Well, no one is quite sure because it can be caused by any number of things such as genetics or even just consuming a lot of dairies. Because of this, the rate of twins has fluctuated quite a bit over the years.
Experts say one way of increasing the odds of having twins is by getting knocked up when you’re 35 or older as of the chances of having twins get higher with age. Another way to try & get twins is to use assisted conception. This could be anything from taking drugs for fertility to undergoing some fertility treatments. The twin birth rate in the US seems to have remained stagnant over the past few years but those stats only go back to the year 2016. During this time, it is estimated your chances of having twins were 1 in 3 more or less. The school first came into the spotlight after a picture of the class went viral & people could not help but notice how many twins were in the class. It is not clear if these are all identical twins but based on the statements, this does seem to be the case. They do hope to be a good home for twins & non-twins alike as they look to the future & keep trying their best to educate kids.