Congratulations are in order for a set of identical twins who ranked at the top of their class this year, earning the coveted honors of valedictorian and salutatorian of their Toledo, Ohio, high school.
Boasting a 4.5 GPA, Deontae Wright was named valedictorian of Scott High School, local station ABC 13 reported. His brother, Deontrae Wright, wasn’t far behind and was named salutatorian with a 4.4 GPA.
Deontae and Deontrae Wright battled it out with one another this year to achieve the coveted academic honors of valedictorian and salutatorian of their high school. (ABC 13 / video screenshot)
“We both like to compete against each other,” Deontrae told the station. “We want to score higher than each other.”
Some call it a case of academics imitating life; Deontae was born first. The siblings said they competed all year and constantly pushed each other to do their best. Their “rivalry” made calculating their final grades that much harder, as their GPAs kept switching between first and second place. In the end, however, it was Deontae who came out on top.
“It feels awesome knowing that I put in the hard work and got something out of it,” he said. “It feels great at the end of the day.”
In addition to their academic accomplishments, both young men hold two jobs and have completed over 70 hours of community service. They said giving back to the community makes them feel good.
“Me giving back is a way I can not only feel good as a person but also help change the community,” Deontae said.
Their friendly competition turned out to be a win-win for both teens. According to ABC 13, the brothers have each secured a full ride to Ohio State University, where they plan to major in electrical engineering. Deontae and Deontrae said they also plan to minor in business and have dreams of opening their own electrical engineering firm after they graduate.
Watch more in the video below.
