Pair of twins earn valedictorian, salutatorian honors at Bethpage and Hicksville high schools

Two sets of twins are topping their graduating class this year.

News 12 Staff

May 13, 2022, 2:56 AM

Updated 953 days ago

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Two sets of twins are topping their graduating class this year.
For the first time in Bethpage High School history, the valedictorian and salutatorian are from the same household.
Suchitha and Ruchitha Channapatna finished at the top of their class.
Some siblings could find themselves competing, but the Channapatnas have been each other's support system for years.
"It's more like, we forget we are twins a lot of times," says Suchitha Channapatna, Bethpage High School valedictorian. "We kind of are just like 'we're sisters' or we are kind of like each other's built-in best friends."
The twins play the same instruments, take the same classes and had grade point averages only around 0.5 of a point off from each other.
"It's crazy because we never like anticipated or tried to go after the valedictorian and salutatorian standings, but also we see each other every single minute of the day pretty much," says Ruchitha Channapatna, Bethpage High School salutatorian. "We know what the other person has gone through and all of the effort and the hard work and all the struggles and even the happy times that have gone along the journey of getting there."
They are now going to college together at MIT, where they both will be studying engineering.
At Hicksville High School, Sam and Sean Zhen also received the top two honors in their class.
They will both be attending Cornell University in the fall and will also be studying engineering.