A set of Mississippi twins have risen to the top of their class, earning the title of valedictorian and salutatorian of Mendenhall High School.
Bayleigh and Peyton Eubanks, who will officially graduate on May 25, have been working toward the academic achievements since freshman year.
“We’ve always been real competitive towards each other,” Peyton said on Good Things with Rebecca Turner. “We knew we were up there close, but we didn’t know for sure until we found out. We’ve always known that it’s been a tight race.”
Throughout her time in high school, Bayleigh has served as captain of the cheer team, student council vice president, and president of Beta Club before being named valedictorian.
“Growing up, we’ve always been very competitive with grades, even before high school. We’ve always been determined to make straight A’s or do good on tests,” Bayleigh said. “I feel like we’ve really pushed each other to be our best and we really brought out the full potential of each other.”
Peyton, who is a salutatorian, held the position of president of the math honor society, a member of Beta Club, and plays on the school’s baseball team. He explained that the siblings’ GPAs have been within a few points of each other throughout the past four years.
“We would always compare our GPAs whenever we get our transcript every nine weeks,” Peyton said. “It’s only by a tenth of a point.”
According to Peyton, it was a close call on who received each achievement until the end of the semester.
“My unweighted GPA was higher than hers and her weighted GPA was higher than mine when we compared transcripts,” Peyton explained. “We did not know who was going to get it.”
Bayleigh added that the two have received support from teachers and staff at the high school throughout their journey
“Ever since our freshman year, they’ve been pushing us,” Bayleigh said.
Now, the twins are looking forward to making more achievements at Mississippi State, which they are expected to attend in the fall of 2023. Both will be majoring in Business Administration.
