Finding an identity in high school is hard enough without being forced to find it under the shadow of an older brother or sister. Students with family members at Kerr make struggle to create their own identity, or they may be inspired to live up to their siblings’ names.

People may sometimes confuse sophomore Beverly U. with her older sister senior Christine U. and vice versa, but the two have no problem differentiating themselves from one another. Although they’re siblings, Beverly and Christine are two very different people.

“Well, she’s more of a tomboy and I’m more girly than her, but there are still some people that get us confused,” Christine said.

“To me, the biggest downfall is living up to my sister’s standards,” Beverly said. “She’s so good in debate and she’s just good at everything that she does, and people always expect me to be the same.”

Although people never get sophomore David V. and senior Jessica V. confused, the siblings still face a few identity problems.

“People would refer to me as Jessica’s little brother and I don’t want that because I want to be known as David,” David said.

Even so, they still have a very strong brother/sister relationship.

“I always push him to do better and to never slack off in his school work,” Jessica said. “And without him, my younger sister would annoy the heck out of me and I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to and I wouldn’t have a car to drive.” 

Sometimes a sibling will have a great influence.  

“My life would be different without my sister,” David said, “because I wouldn’t have as many friends and I wouldn’t have someone to talk to and someone to motivate me with my homework.”

Sophomore twins Mimi L. and Alan L. say their different personalities distinguish them from each other.

“We’re fraternal twins but we’re different from each other,” Mimi said. “For example, he’s really talkative, active and always making me smile, but on the other hand I’m a bit more reserved.”

Alan pointed out more obvious differences.

“Well, first off, she’s a girl and I’m a guy, so that should end some confusion,” he said, “but what really makes us different is that I would act like the older brother and look out for her.”

Still, no relationships within families are perfect, and these siblings’ face problems with each other like everyone else.

“We may argue a lot throughout the day, like saying that I ate his food or he won’t put something away in the bathroom after he uses it,” Jessica said. “But at the end of the day, we put it all aside.”