Aspermont twins challenged each other to be top of their class

Nathaniel Ellsworth, Abilene Reporter-News
·2 min read
1
Celie Gentry was Aspermont ISD's valedictorian for the Class of 2022.
Celie Gentry was Aspermont ISD's valedictorian for the Class of 2022.

Visitors at Aspermont ISD's graduation ceremony Friday night might have thought they were seeing double.

Their eyes weren't lying.

At the top of the school's Class of 2022 were identical twins Celie and Sadie Gentry, who graduated as valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively.

"It's an honor to be in the top two, especially when we've had to work hard in a competitive class," said Sadie about their graduating class of 12.

"It's something we have both wished for since we were little, and made it a goal of ours, and the fact that we attained that goal is very special to us."

Echoing that sentiment, Celie said their sibling rivalry pushed them both to be better for their entire lives.

Sadie Gentry was Aspermont ISD's salutatorian for the Class of 2022.
Sadie Gentry was Aspermont ISD's salutatorian for the Class of 2022.

"We have not just been each other's biggest supporters, but we've each other's biggest competition as well," Celie said. "For every grade, in every class, we battled, but we've always been there to help each other do better."

That spirit of competition extended to the playing field, too, as the two sisters challenged each other athletically, "even if it's a team sport," said Celie, with the twins both participating in volleyball, basketball, softball, cross country and track.

They'll be sticking together in the future, as well. The twins have been accepted into Texas Tech University's honors program, they said, where they both will pursue biology degrees before going to pre-med.

They plan for their rivalry to continue even beyond school, with both wanting eventually to become OB-GYNs.

"It really just pushes us to be better," said Celie, "because we also want the other one to do just as good as we do."

"Each of our successes can be attributed to the other person," Sadie added.

Nathaniel Ellsworth is a general assignments reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com. 

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Aspermont twins challenged each other to be top of their class