Identical twins Kirstie and Kristie Bronner match in every way, including the perfect grades that make them co-valedictorians.
The inseparable 22-year-old duo topped their class at Atlanta’s Spelman College, sharing academic honors that will be recognized when they graduate Sunday.
Perhaps the first twin co-valedictorians at an American college or university, they excelled not by competing with each other but by working together to study and plan their time. The sisters tackled their problems as one.
“We were definitely raised to value excellence and despise mediocrity,” Kirstie said. “We weren’t ever told to get straight As or told to get 4.0s. We were just told to do our best no matter what our best was.”
Kristie said they strove to reach their potential and barely passing a class wouldn’t cut it. Yes, kids like this actually exist on our planet.
“We always aimed at perfect scores because we felt like if we put in the work for a 100, then we expected to get one,” Kristie said. “Other students, if they made a grade in the 90s, they’d say, ‘Yes!’ If we made a 97, we’d say, ‘Oh, darn, what was that question we missed?’”
Both music majors with concentrations in vocal performance, their similarities extend beyond the classroom.
They often wear the same dresses, hang out with the same friends, enjoy the same foods, watch the same movies, sing with one voice. For their valedictorian speech, they’ll alternate reading each paragraph of their remarks.
They also share the same post-college ambitions: to work together singing a Christian contemporary album and to co-write a book about how to excel academically.
The daughters of Bishop Dale Bronner of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral, their philosophy was to work hard and pray hard.
“I thought it was geniuses who made 4.0s. I didn’t think I was a genius, but I prayed and asked anyway and then I put in the work,” Kirstie said.
They aced all of their classes through eight semesters, scoring a 4.0 grade point average. The salutatorian, Shay Johnson, earned a 3.94 GPA.
A key to their success was disciplining themselves to manage their time, studying whenever they weren’t involved in frequent rehearsals with the Spelman College Glee Club, where Kristie was the student director and Kirstie served as chaplain.
“They’ve been each other’s best friend and confidant and encourager and accountability person,” their father said. “Regular siblings are competitive. These two are like teammates.”
The twins learned their study habits early on, when they were home-schooled from fifth grade through high school. Their parents enrolled them in a DVD-based program in which they listened to course lectures on TV, took tests by mail and called teachers by phone when they needed help.
The independence and academic difficulty of the home-schooling program taught them the skills they needed for college.
“When we first started college, we were off-balance as study-aholics. We had to learn how to schedule our fun as well as schedule time on the weekends to have a social life,” Kristie said.
One of their teachers, psychology lecturer Juanchella Francis, called them “born leaders” because of their intelligence, positive outlook and emotional maturity.
“They always came with a lot of energy, eager to express their thoughts on the topic and conversation,” Francis said. “They always brought a lot of joy and light into the classroom.”
Following vacations this summer to Florida and the Dominican Republican, the twins will join their father’s church in Austell as youth event coordinators, youth counselors and directors in the music department.
They’ve already written more than an album’s worth of songs and an outline of their book includes life success tips such as, “Work like it’s all up to you, but pray like it’s all up to God,” advocating people to do their best and trust in God to do the rest.
As far as they can tell, they’re the first identical twins to become co-valedictorians of any college or university in the United States. They recently submitted a request to Guinness World Records for recognition.
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