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Twins Amara and Kenneth Oparaji graduated from Suffolk Christian Academy as co-valedictorians with a 4.4355 GPA. Both of them have attended SCA for 13 years and were involved in many extracurriculars while maintaining straight As throughout high school.

Amara will attend the University of Virginia on a pre-med track, and Kenneth will attend Virginia Tech for computer engineering. 

Both of their graduation speeches highlighted the people who have supported them throughout their time at SCA, and looked toward the future, offering their fellow classmates some words of advice.

Kenneth thanked his teachers, classmates, parents, and God for helping achieve all he has so far.

“I’m so thankful and privileged to be able to share this moment with you all, with my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, my family,” he said during his speech.

Kenneth also offered three pieces of advice: never give up, always be a leader, and always smile and be happy.

In her speech, Amara reflected on dreams she had when she was younger: being the best in class, becoming the Peanut Festival Queen, and attending a top university.

“Today, I can say that every single one of those dreams has come true,” she said during her speech.

She also thanked God, her parents, her extended family and friends, her grandfather, her coach and teacher Kristy Cornette, and lastly, her twin brother Kenneth.

“What’s special about us is that no matter how different we are — different interests, different styles, different strengths — you’ve always been my other half,” she said.

Amara’s advice for the class of 2025 was simple: keep dreaming.

When it comes to academics, both twins agreed there was some competitiveness between them. Amara remembers them having similar GPAs since eighth grade, but Kenneth said it started in elementary school.

“In my opinion, I don’t think I was being competitive,” Kenneth said, laughing. “I went to school, I had fun with my friends … and I studied and got my good grades, and then I moved on. [Amara] on the other hand, I feel like, in my opinion, she was a bit competitive.”

Amara said their competitiveness was equal, but it definitely mellowed out once they got to high school. Since they had taken advanced classes since eighth grade, they were used to the difficulty level by the time they graduated. 

For most of high school, Amara said she studied about two hours every day, which decreased to about one hour by her senior year. Kenneth studied around four hours every day.

This is one way the twins differ; memorization of facts comes naturally to Amara, while her  brother needs to dedicate a bit more time in order to gain a deeper understanding. 

“I feel like I work harder to be successful, which is fine,” Kenneth said. “Because it shows that I never give up. I have dedication. I work hard to accomplish my goals.”

While Kenneth and Amara are grateful for the title of co-valedictorians, they recognize that titles aren’t everything.

“Being valedictorian doesn’t mean you’re better than anybody,” Amara said. “Because somebody can be smart, but just doesn’t know how to put it on a piece of paper.”

Kenneth added, “it could have been anyone,” giving a speech on graduation day because their whole graduating class had competitive GPAs.

As they prepare to go off to college, the twins admitted it’s daunting to think about being away from home, and away from each other, for the first time. 

“I’m gonna miss this one,” Amara said, pointing to her brother, “because he finishes my thoughts, I finish his. We’ve been apart no longer than one, two weeks. It’s going to be different, not having him literally right across the hall.”