Identical success: Florida twins are co-salutatorians with same GPAs

TAMPA, Fla. — Identical twins graduated from a west-central Florida high school as co-salutatorians -- thanks to their identical grade-point averages.

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Alexander Deevers, and his brother, Dane Deevers, finished with 9.12 GPAs at Wharton High School in Tampa, WTVT reported. The brothers credited their weighted averages to advanced placement courses and dual-enrollment at Hillsborough Community College, according to the television station.

The twins trailed only valedictorian Sonya Patel, who finished with a 9.40 GPA, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

The brothers love competition but agreed to stop trying to outdo each other and earn the same GPA, WTVT reported.

“We were kind of pretty competitive with each other and trying to, you know, we were kind of pushing each other a lot,” Dane Deevers told the television station. “Having someone in the same boat as you really makes your job a lot easier because you always have someone, right, that you can rely on.”

“You have something else with you that’s doing the same amount of stuff, challenging you,” Alexander Deevers told WTVT. “You know, you don’t (want to) get one-up(ped) by your brother, right?”

The brothers also fit several sports into their schedules, with Alexander Deevers a co-winner as Wharton’s representative for Hillsborough County Scholar Athletes. Dane Deever, meanwhile, earned his pilot’s license, according to WTVT.

It is not surprising that the brothers will be attending the same college -- the University of Florida, the Times reported. That is where the similarity ends. Alexander Deevers will be a pre-med major, while his brother will follow a career in engineering.

“They work together as a phenomenal team and they’ve always been like that,” the twins’ mother, Stephanie Deevers, told WTVT. “They care very much about each other. And I’m so excited that they’re all going to be in college together.”

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