‘Twins galore’ at Gold Hill Elementary School

Teachers, parents and siblings were seeing double at Gold Hill Elementary School’s fifth grade completion ceremony Tuesday.

Joy Price, retiring this year after three decades in schools, including her media specialist role at Gold Hill, couldn’t recall another class like it.

“No,” she said. “Ever. We have twins galore.”

According to the National Center for Health Statistics — run through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the twin birth rate reached a national record in 2014 at almost 34 per 1,000 births. With Gold Hill graduating 130, the school would expect two pairs.

They had four times that many.

Twins include the Barneses, Campbells, Gondoses, Hufnagels, Ingerslews, Mosses, Piercys and Williamses. They include sister-sister and brother-brother pairs, and pairs of one each. Twins quick to think of reasons they like going to school with so close a sibling.

“The best part would be going to school every day and walking down the hall, and seeing our twins and we would all smile at each other and make funny positions or faces at each other,” said Danielle Williams, twin of Dane.

And twins quick to point out why it isn’t all sunshine and roses.

“He has the chance to punch me,” said Justin Moss, of brother Tyler.

In its kindergarten through fourth grade classes, Gold Hill has 11 sets of twins. Sibling pairs are common on the hallways and, next year, they’ll be common to the halls of Gold Hill Middle School just across the parking lot. A transition most Gold Hill twins are happy to make together.

“I’ll always know that she’ll have my back,” said Ava Gondos, of twin Danielle, “and I’ll have hers.”

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 10:45 AM with the headline "‘Twins galore’ at Gold Hill Elementary School."