Whether they are your biggest headache, your best friends, or a little bit of both, it’s always fun having a sibling in the school.  More and more Kadets are coming in with siblings and they love it!

Featured mostly in Doug’s lab and on the basketball field, siblings Logan and Luke Negley love going to the same school.  According to Luke it really pays to have a built in buddy saying, “It’s cool because your parents don’t have to give you rides, but it also sucks because he can beat you up in school.”  

Other students only get to experience high school with their siblings for one year.  Samantha Valtin (Sophomore) says “It’s really fun seeing your sibling during your freshman year because it’s like you have high school training wheels and it’s nice to know all the tips for classes and be able to have a safety net.”  Samantha’s older brother is Jonathan Valtin, a senior last year.  She also has a stepbrother, Travis Work, who graduated with Jonathan last year.  

In contrast to the siblings who only get to spend a year together, Air Academy also has many sets of twins that get to go through all of high school by each other’s side.  One pair is Elizabeth and Luke Louthan, who are freshman at Air Academy.  “He’s (Luke) with me most of the time and we have lots of the same classes together, and it’s nice to have someone in school to complain about a class to or ask for help on a test.  We always do homework together and and talk about social issues and I’m kind of his wing-woman,” says Liza.  Luke also enjoys having a best friend by his side all day saying, “I always have a friend no matter what and she’s there if I need anything.  She helps with school and vice versa.  If I’m absent she talks to my teachers for me, and she can also help me out with girls.” 

As you can see, it’s nice to have siblings in the school for many reasons; but according to research, it can have some drawbacks.  “One concern with keeping siblings together is that it could be difficult for them to form separate identities, especially in the eyes of teachers. Parents who are worried that a younger kid will be unfairly compared to their older sibling should encourage individualism,” says Pat Mayer, a Kindergarten teacher in Closter, New Jersey. Some younger siblings have a hard time adjusting to school situations when they have siblings because they feel like they have a reputation to either fix, match, or exceed.  Some believe that when twins are in the same school during developmental years they should be in separate classrooms in order to develop their own personalities.  “One 2014 study conducted at California State University at Northridge (CSUN) found that most principals (71%) believed that twins should be separated in kindergarten, while about half of teachers and nearly 40 percent of parents agreed that it was better to be apart” said one Yahoo! parenting article regarding twins in the same school.  

Most siblings do agree that while it is challenging to have your family name come with a reputation, they find that teachers are often unbiased and they are easily able to form their own unique personality within the school.  “Most of the time you’re nervous starting off with new teachers thinking “Oh no what trouble did my brother get me into here.” But it’s easy to form your own mold with teachers and become your own person in the school,” says Samantha Valtin.  

While having some cons, most of the influence of having a sibling in the school is positive, and we are happy to have them in Air Academy!