This Philly high school has 11 sets of twins — 14 if you count the staff: ‘It has its advantages’

Some of them dress alike. Some of them finish each other’s sentences — even when they don’t mean to. Some of them can’t imagine their lives had they been born a singleton.

West Philadelphia High has 11 sets of twins this year — the most Marla Travis has ever seen in her long career in education — and of particular interest to the principal: Travis is a twin herself. (And yes, she and her brother, Mark, have a joking rivalry, but they’re close. Travis loves being part of a set.)

Statistically speaking, while 11 sets of twins among West Philadelphia’s 600 students is on the high side, it’s not terribly out of the ordinary. In addition to Travis, two West staffers are twins, also.

Some of the twins recently discussed with The Inquirer what it’s like to be a multiple. Here are some highlights:

Estrella Enriquez has blue streaks in her brown hair. She’s much more outgoing than her twin sister, Caren, who has pinkish-red streaks in her hair.

People still have a tough time telling the ninth graders apart. Even their mother would get it wrong when they were younger, but Caren has a birthmark and Estrella doesn’t.

“She’s been with me my whole life; it’s kind of cool,” said Estrella. (They once dyed identical streaks into their hair, which was confusing for everyone.)

Caren and Estrella aren’t in the same classes; even when they were younger, schools separated them. But the twins have been known to pull pranks on their teachers and friends — swapping seats at lunch, or even trying to walk into the other’s class.

“One time, I ate her lunch,” Estrella said.

People are fascinated by the twins, they said.

“People say, ‘Do you have twin telepathy?’” said Estrella. (Not really.) “People try to hit me and say, does she feel it?”

And though their parents dressed them alike in the past, Caren and Estrella try to go their own way now.

“Well, sometimes, we accidentally match,” said Estrella.

Sometimes, people don’t believe that Jabril and Sa’iyd Harper-Haines are twins.

But mostly “people always expect us to be together,” Jabril said.

The two, who are one of three sets of twins born to their mother, are close.

“If something happens with him, I have to come,” said Jabril.

When Sameah and Samirah Campbell were younger, they would switch classes. No one noticed.

“We’re fraternal, but close enough” to identical, Samirah said.

Samirah and Sameah’s mother still tries to dress them alike, buying them the same outfit in different colors.

“If she wears something one day, I wear it the other day,” Samirah said.

“Having to match all the time is boring,” said Sameah, who wanted to go to a different school to set herself apart from her twin, but ended up at West, too.

Sameah and Samirah’s friend Michelle DeStouet likes having a twin.

“I have someone I can talk to,” Michelle said. “They get the stuff that I’m saying. But one thing that’s not good is she thinks that my stuff is her stuff. And also, we have to do everything together.”

Most of the time, Aminata and Malaou Sy don’t give much thought to being twins.

“But it has its advantages,” said Aminata. “Some places have scholarships for twins.”

But the sisters don’t want to go to the same college.

“We want different pathways,” said Malaou.

Aminata wants to become a registered nurse, traveling the world, and working in public health.

Malaou wants to join the FBI “to help others in need, to make the world a safer place.”

The sisters have twins in their family — their father’s brothers are twins. They have three other siblings, and they’re all close, Aminata and Malaou said.

For years, the Sy sisters dressed exactly alike.

“We didn’t like it,” said Aminata. “We stopped in high school.”

It was always two for one in the Travis household, Marla Travis said.

“We were the Terrible Travis Twins,” the West Philadelphia High principal said, smiling. “All in all, it was great.”

But, she said, there were some drawbacks.

“Even though I had my brother, I didn’t feel like I had my own self — I never had my own birthday, my own graduation,” Marla said.

The Travis twins grew up in Philadelphia and attended C.W. Henry Elementary in Mount Airy, then went to different high schools, Marla to Philadelphia High School for Girls, and Mark to W.B. Saul. They reunited in college, at Temple University.

They’re close, they agreed.

“Only when we’re not arguing,” said Mark, a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley.

“I’m never right,” said Marla.

“She’s always right,” Mark said.

Since their mother died 20 years ago, Mark is even more protective of her, Marla said.

“He thinks he’s my father,” she said.

But Mark can’t try to get a thing past his sister.

“If something is going on with him, I know,” she said. “I’ll call, he’ll try to say, ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ but I know better.”