Super Kids: Twins revel in rivalry

Question: What activities are you involved in?

Corey: I’m on the football team. I have been every year. I’m also in track in the spring.

Q: What position do you play in football?

Corey: Strong safety.

Q: And what events in track?

Corey: I throw the javelin.

Courtney: So I run cross country. I do track. I used to be part of volleyball team.

Q: What events do you participate in as part of the track and field team?

Courtney: We all run 5Ks in track I do the hurdles and I also run sprints.

Q: The hurdles? Can you tell me about what it’s like to compete in that event?

Courtney: I just started doing hurdles last year. At first I was kind of like, all right, I have to get over this obstacle. Once you’re in the race and that mindset, it’s like there’s not even a hurdle there. You’re just racing and you just glide over it.

Q: What are you favorite classes?

Corey: I really enjoy government, because later I’m planning to go into political science. I really enjoy how the government works.

Courtney: I have a couple. I love leadership and one of my favorite classes I took was my freshman year was intro computer-aided design.

Q: What other classes do you like?

Corey: I enjoy speech. I like talking in front of people.

Q: Has that always been easy for you?

Corey: It’s been pretty easy all my life. It’s one of my abilities.

Q: What’s your GPA and what plans do you have to applying to college?

Corey: I have 3.82 GPA and got a 1990 on the SAT. I am applying to the University of Washington and Washington State University. I hope to make it into the UW and major in political science.

Courtney: 3.76 — I think.

Q: Is there any grade competition with your brother?

Courtney: Of course we have grade competition. But we’re both been primarily at the same level. So it’s not that much. But it’s like sibling rivalry like any siblings have.

Q: Do you think it’s more because you’re twins?

Courtney: Yeah. We take the same classes. We take the same tests. It’s easy to compare ourselves. It’s the exact same thing.

Q: Where do you plan to go to college and what courses are you interested in taking?

Courtney: I’ve been accepted to WSU. I love the campus there. The programs are really good. I want to go into is civil engineering with a focus in environmental studies, which would be like designing new things to help reduce emissions, finding ways to better the environment while still furthering technology.

Q: I hear you’re also involved in volunteer activities. Could you talk a little about that?

Corey: For community work, through Snohomish Community Church. I’ve been on several mission trips, locally and in California, doing different things and helping out in the community through yard work, soup kitchens and talking to people.

Q: Where did you volunteer in a soup kitchen?

Corey: It’s through City Impact in San Francisco.

Q: What other things have you done?

Corey: One thing we did was serve the Navy wives whose husbands are deployed overseas.

We did all the yard work and heavy lifting things that they needed.

Q: Was that one of your favorite volunteer projects?

Corey: They’re all good in different ways. I like the San Francisco one because it gave me access to a different kind of culture. We got to talk to homeless people in the Tenderloin District, which has a lot of poverty. It was great to talk to people and hear their stories. I would say that would be my favorite.

Q: Are you involved in ASB?

Corey: Yes I am ASB vice president. And last year I was junior treasurer.

Q: Courtney, what activities are you involved in at school?

Courtney: I also am a member of the Senate, which is part of ASB where we make decisions on clubs and money and other student activities that would go through ASB. And I’m involved in Leadership Class, where we put on assemblies that go on at the school.

Club-wise, I do Key Club, a volunteer club where we serve our community and RAKE club, Random Acts of Kindness for our community.

Q: What type of community volunteer activities are you involved in?

Courtney: I’m a member of Volunteers of America. The program there is the Youth Action team for three years. I’m captain for Snohomish High School. What we do is have different volunteer projects we do throughout the month. Mine is Catholic Community Services because we help the elderly around the house with cleaning needs and yard work and petty much whatever they need. I do that on a monthly basis. We worked at the food bank.

Q: Is there anything you’ve learned through your volunteer work?

Courtney: I’ve learned to put others before myself and find ways to help people. There’s always some way you can better someone’s day, even if it’s a little thing.

Q: Is there some person who has influenced your life?

Corey: My mom. She’s just always there for me. Super supportive.

Q: And Courtney?

Courtney: My mom. But he already said that. My mom made me a better person and made me think about my choices and what’s I’m doing with my life.

Q: What’s your favorite music?

Corey: My favorite? I really like classic rock for music. I like ’60s and ’80s anywhere from Bob Dylan to Aerosmith.

Courtney: I like a lot of more underground stuff that’s not popular, stuff that’s not listened to on the radio all the time.

Q: If you were to introduce yourself to someone, how would you describe yourself?

Corey: I’d like to hear more about them. I don’t like to talk about myself. That’s why this is kind of weird. I would get to know them and then build on that friendship.

Courtney: I love sports. I love watching football and participating in sports. I enjoy meeting new people. And I just like to have fun.

Q: Is there anything about Snohomish you’ll remember after you graduate?

Corey: I’ll definitely remember the culture. It still has that small town atmosphere that probably will be lacking in college. And the friends and memories I have here.

Q: Courtney, a different question for you. Do you enjoy outdoor activities?

Courtney: I love hiking. I go hiking as often as I can. I love to ride my bike and just go for walks. Being outside is my favorite thing to do. I don’t like being trapped inside. But camping, hiking or biking or pretty much if you give me something to do outside I’ll do it.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.

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