Seeing double
Three sets of twins start kindergarten together at Rogers Elementary
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Rogers Elementary School kindergarten teachers Courtney Arp and Megan Cutright are both in their 15th years as educators, and neither of them have ever experienced anything like their current situation at the start of the 2026-2027 school year: three sets of identical twins in the same class.
They are Daisy and Maisy Garcia Verdinez, Lylah and Harmony Patton and Roen and Ayden Reian, and the unique coincidence has created its own set of fun moments and, admittedly, some confusion for their teachers, classmates and Rogers Principal Brooke Grossheim.
"I try to find unique characteristics in each of them so that I can tell them apart, but I'm still working on that," Grossheim said. "We try to get to know each individual kid for their unique characteristics so that they feel seen and valued, even though they look just like someone else."
Lylah and Harmony, who were wearing matching dresses on Wednesday morning, agreed that the best part of having a twin is always having someone to play with, and all of the twins are separated into the two opposing classrooms to make things slightly easier for Arp and Cutright.
"We had a confusion this morning. Another student was trying to bring the opposite (twin) into my classroom, and they're like 'No, this is this person,' and I'm like 'No it's not.' So the kids are kind of getting confused, but it's a lot of fun and they're getting to know everybody," Cutright said. "They're good kids, and we're getting in the swing of things."
Arp added that it helps when the children’ s parents dress them with different color shoes or a bow, and she thinks the trio of twins is enjoying the novelty of their special situation.
"I love it because they're different in their own ways, and we really wanted them to shine in their own ways and not rely on each other," she said. "What I love is that they see each other in the hallway, and they always give each other a big hug. But you see in the classroom that they're full of smiles as well, so they're happy to be in their own environment and shining in their own way."
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.