For a time, Alexx Bryant-Hopkins felt getting B's in school was just fine. Alexx's identical twin thought otherwise.
Now the 18-year-olds are nearing graduation from Minneapolis North High School with Allie Bryant-Hopkins' 3.9 grade-point average earning her top honors as valedictorian, while Alexx will close out at North with a 3.7 GPA and be recognized as salutatorian.
"I was cool with B's when I was young, in middle school and elementary," Alexx said Thursday. "Allie said to me, 'No, you can do better.' Now I am right here with her."
Once graduation comes and goes on June 10 in the North gym, Allie and Alexx's inseparability will then face its stiffest test yet when they enroll in different universities.
Allie is heading to the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota, where she will study business and put her saxophone talents to the test trying out for the marching band. Alexx will study psychology at St. Cloud State University. Allie said she and Alexx looked into attending the University of Minnesota Duluth together, but "we just liked two different majors."
The twins got a slight taste of being apart when they attended a college-readiness program at the U over the summer and stayed in the same dorm — on different floors.
"It kind of hit you what it will be like" when off on their own college adventures roughly 70 miles apart a few months from now, Alexx said.
Allie said she'll miss being in the same classes with Alexx, which was often the case at North. They weren't competitive about grades though. "If we were struggling, we'd help each other out," Allie said.