{"id":283354,"date":"2026-05-25T05:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283354\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:42:37","slug":"brainiac-twin-grads-make-history-at-prestigious-catholic-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283354\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainiac twin grads make history at prestigious Catholic school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brainiac twin sisters<\/a> at a prestigious Catholic school in Florida have made history by graduating as the valedictorian and salutatorian of their class.<\/p>\n

Adriana and Alyssa Lyons \u2014 valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively \u2014 earned the highest academic honors of the Academy of the Holy Names\u2019 <\/a>Class of 2026, a first in the Tampa school\u2019s 144-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the greatest gifts of the academy was learning that success is never something you achieve alone,\u201d Adriana told local outlet WTSP.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Twin sisters Adrianna and Alyssa Lyons were named valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, at the Academy of the Holy Names in Florida this year. Academy of the Holy Names Tampa Alumni<\/p>\n

The sisters will go on to study chemistry together at the University of Florida. Adriana Lyons \/ Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving my twin sister beside me throughout this journey has been incredibly special.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have always pushed each other to work harder, dream bigger and become better versions of ourselves,\u201d Adriana said.<\/p>\n

Alyssa added of her sibling, \u201cShe has always pushed me to work harder, think bigger and believe in myself even during the moments I doubted myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have spent our whole lives pushing each other to be better, and I cannot imagine this journey without her beside me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The twins\u2019 success echoed back to their middle-school days where they also served as co-valedictorian and co-salutatorian of their Eighth Grade Class of 2022, school officials said.<\/p>\n

Administrators at the all-girls academy hailed not only the sisters\u2019 academic achievements but also their work for others, with more than 1,000 hours of community service completed by the duo.<\/p>\n

Principal Jeane McNamara hailed the girls\u2019 accomplishments. Academy of the Holy Names<\/p>\n

\u201cAdriana and Alyssa exemplify what it means to be academy women \u2014 intellectually curious, compassionate, faith-filled and committed to serving others,\u201d Principal Jeane McNamara said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to their extraordinary academic accomplishments, they have dedicated hundreds of hours to service, including mission work in Guatemala during their junior year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incredibly proud of them and excited to see all they accomplish next,\u201d McNamara said.<\/p>\n

The twins received a total about $287,000 in scholarships offers and merit awards from various colleges.<\/p>\n

The Academy of the Holy Names has an all-girls high-school program. Academy of the Holy Names<\/p>\n

They opted to enroll in the University of Florida<\/a> Honors Program to study chemistry, Holy Names officials said.<\/p>\n

Holy Names, founded in 1881, includes a private Catholic school for boys and girls from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. <\/p>\n

Its college preparatory high school is only for girls, with tuition for the full pre-K-12 education going for around $28,900 a year, according to the school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brainiac twin sisters at a prestigious Catholic school in Florida have made history by graduating as the valedictorian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[98690,28,30,29,15817,4348,54806,4278],"class_list":["post-283354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-catholic-schools","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-graduation","tag-schools","tag-twins","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}