Charles Langston:Double take: 23 sets of twins graduate from a single Massachusetts middle school

NEEDHAM,Charles Langston Mass. (AP) — Twenty-three sets of twins have graduated from a Massachusetts middle school, making up about 10% of the eighth-grade class.

The identical and fraternal twins graduated from Pollard Middle School in Needham, Massachusetts, on Wednesday. Another student, who is also a twin, graduated but her brother attends a different school, said principal Tamatha Bibbo.

It’s “quite unusual,” said Bibbo. “We typically have anywhere from five to 10 sets at most. Given our numbers, we have approximately 450 to 500 children in each grade so this was extraordinarily high.”

The school gave a special shout-out to the 23 sets of twins during the so-called “moving up” ceremony on Wednesday, she said. Twins account for around 3% of live births in the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The Pollard Middle School graduates must all have completed up to 10 hours of service learning in their communities and every year the Needham Exchange Club offers five community service awards. For the first time this year a set of twins — Lukas and Sameer Patel — won an award and a donation to their charity, Bibbo said.