Siblings share a lot of things: parents, a home, genetics and sometimes even a school.
Today is National Siblings Day — a day to honor siblings and their never-ending relationships. Brothers and sisters everywhere will blow up social media with the hashtag #nationalsiblingsday.
Twins Erin and Dennis Boyle, both 20, said they enjoy having family at UF.
Dennis, a finance sophomore, jokingly admitted to liking the fact he can keep an eye on Erin, a nursing sophomore.
“He’s protective sometimes, so that’s really annoying,” Erin said.
Both remember the day they received their acceptance letters to UF, but for a brief moment that day, it seemed as though Erin would be the only Gator.
Dennis said it got a little chaotic in the time between his sister’s acceptance and his. When he finally saw his congratulations message, he said he “immediately just Tebowed.”
Erin said her family wasn’t sure her brother would get accepted.
“I was almost considering going to FSU if he was gonna go there,” she said, “even though I really wanted to go to UF, but he’s kind of important in my life.”
Another set of siblings, Morgan and Jordan Billinger, share the campus as well. Both feel like they have a piece of home here, but Morgan, a 19-year-old UF speech therapy sophomore, feels there is also a bit of competition between them.
“We are both in the college of Public Health and Health Professions, so we’re competing but it’s more like a brotherly-sisterly rivalry versus something more serious,” Morgan wrote in an interview.
Jordan, a 21-year-old UF public health junior, said he prefers to have family here, especially when he was an underclassman.
“Sometimes school can get really stressful, and you may even get homesick,” Jordan said. “If your sibling goes here with you, there is always someone in your corner providing a support system.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 4/10/2014 under the headline "In all kinds of weather, UF siblings stick together"]
