Jordan twins prepare for future

Wednesday, 06 June 2012 by Matthew Girard

Belton High School seniors Dallas and Austin Jordan are the first set of twins to be named the Valedictorian and Salutatorian in the history of the school. The twins will attend Cornell University in the fall.Throughout their years in the Belton Independent School District, twin brothers Austin and Dallas Jordan have been practically inseparable. The two seniors have taken the same classes, have participated in the same extra curricular activities and on May 31 Austin and Dallas will share another memory as the two were named Belton High School's Valedictorian and Salutatorian.

"It's really exciting," Austin said. "This is the culmination of 13 years of hard work. We've always put school first and coming to this point is our reward and we feel really thankful to be in this position."

Although it is not unheard of for a set of twins to be named a school's valedictorian and salutatorian, this year will mark the first time in BHS's history that a set of twins will receive the honor.

"It doesn't happen very often where twin brothers end up being valedictorian and salutatorian," Dallas said. "We have got a lot of good suggestions, like alternating speaking each sentence. My favorite one was after he gives his speech for me to get up and just say 'ditto' and then just sit back down."

Looking back on their careers at BHS, both said they enjoyed their experiences in and out of the classroom.

"Definitely some of the extra curricular activities we've done have been some of the best experiences of our lives," Austin said. "With the Challenge Team, we've been able to travel all over and we really enjoyed our time on the golf team."

With the help of their hard work, the two were accepted to Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and will attend the Ivy League school in the fall.

"We were really excited to get into an Ivy League school," Austin said. "I don't think we were ever adverse to going away for college, but now that's it happening there is a little bit of anxiety."

"We are really excited because there are so many opportunities that we can get involved with and we are going together," Dallas added.

The BHS Top 10 were treated to lunch at Cheeves Brothers Steakhouse on Monday. From left to right, John Kiella, Kiella Homebuilders and Keith Odom, BBVA Compass, who sponsor this event each year, and Top Ten Honor Graduates: Dallas Jordan, Shannon Rice, Ethan Liu, Hadley Young, Austin Jordan, Emily Mueller, Randall Hale, Emily Waits, Taylor Lahey, and Daniel Barron.Although the Jordans will be attending Cornell together, for the first time in their lives, they will be taking different classes but ultimately will both major in Physics.

"Right now, the plan is that we both want to be physicists," Austin said. "The ultimate fantasy would be to win a Nobel Prize together for physics, but whatever we do we want to always help each other out."

Along with the twins, eight other BHS students were treated to a meal at Cheeves Brothers Steakhouse in Temple on Monday to honor being the top 10 of the class of 2012.

This year's top 10 were Austin and Dallas Jordan (Cornell University), Hadley Young (Baylor University), Shannon Rice (University of Kentucky), Ethan Liu (University of Texas), Taylor Lahey (Baylor University), Randy Hale (Texas A&M University), Julia Mueller (Elon University), Emily Waits (Baylor University) and Daniel Barron (University of Texas).

The annual Top 10 lunch was sponsored by John Kiella and Compass Bank. BHS will host its graduation ceremonies on May 31 at the Bell County Expo Center.

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