When you speak to Adriana and Victoria Owens, you might notice the twins say “we” and “us” a lot. And those first-person plural pronouns often fit the pair, whose lives blend and weave together.

From academic to extracurricular interests, the two are practically inseparable. Adriana is a psychology and criminal justice major; Victoria is a sociology and political science major. The two share minors in women’s studies and variants of an organizational leadership minor. On top of that, they both take on involved roles in Wichita State’s Student Government Association and Model United Nations. 

“I would say that we always knew we were obviously similar,” Adriana said. “I mean, our mom dressed us in the same outfits but different colors.

“Whenever we were … babies, our mom said that we had our own language, that we would babble at each other and no one else would understand it, but we would be expecting everyone else to understand our babbles because we got it. Why can’t you? And so we had our own little world.”

Adriana and Victoria began studying at Wichita State University four years ago. While Adriana graduates this spring and plans to pursue a master’s at WSU next fall, Victoria is taking another year to finish her bachelor’s. With the end of their parallel bachelor’s paths nearing, the fraternal twins are preparing for changes, but not too many.

“Twins really flow in the same stream for the rest of our lives,” Victoria said.

Victoria and Adriana, though being close early in life and now, haven’t always considered each other friends. Having similar passions and “sharing a face” — as Adriana says — contributed to this.

“Whenever you are next to a person that is innately intertwined with yourself, people assume that one person’s behavior is the other’s because they see you as the same person, especially true for twins who are women,” Victoria said. “We are entangled as the same being, more than people like to consider or not. If one person is in trouble, the other person is also in trouble.”

This drove the two to opposite ends of the same spaces in high school, which is also when they started dying their hair so people could differentiate them.

“We ended up kind of being in the same hobbies and interests; we did theater, choir, forensics, debate together, but we wanted so badly to be different people, instead of just ‘the twins,’ that we felt as if we kind of parted ways,” Adriana said.

In their first year or so at Wichita State, the twins continued their parallel but separate tracks.

“We were kind of trying so hard again on this new campus to divulge paths, even though we were both interested in SGA together; we were both interested in Model UN,” Adriana said. 

But an argument and subsequent reunion made the pair realize what they had missed by carving out unique but similar spaces. 

“We decided to sit down, and we just talked for hours,” Adriana said. “… Though we’ve had almost identical experiences, the way that they shaped us are completely different.”

Back again

The last few years have brought the twins back to their close dynamic from childhood.

“Our paths did diverge, but …  they kind of re-emerged into a situation where I think we have been closer than we have ever been our entire lives,” Victoria said.

And while sharing similar academic and extracurricular interests, each approaches them differently.

Victoria said this can even manifest in how their majors correlate with their personalities. She describes herself as being more outgoing than her sister.

“Adriana, drifting towards psychology, so study of the mind, inward thoughts, and me studying sociology, outward thoughts, people, human society,” Victoria said. “(That) really began to shape who we are as people and how differently we experience those things.”

These differing interests have pushed the two into different areas of Student Government as well. Over the last four years, they have gone from being fellow senators to Victoria being Adriana’s boss, serving as speaker of the senate. 

Adriana said that, despite this, the twins know how to balance between being colleagues and sisters. 

“We oftentimes have a code word for when to switch off from professional to personal,” Adriana said. “So we’re like, ‘Okay, I need you to be my boss’ or ‘I need you to be my sister.’”

This innate closeness is perceptible to others, too. 

“I really admire how they support one another,” said Annie Wasinger, who has worked with the Owens twins through SGA. “And they definitely have their own language. They have their own thing going on, and they know it down pat. They protect each other; they make sure that each other are safe.”

Through SGA, Adriana and Victoria have worked together on several projects, sometimes supporting each other behind the scenes or offering feedback in a work environment. During her time as accessibility subcommittee chairperson last spring, Adriana wrote the Sabbatical Creation Act, which allows SGA members to leave their posts temporarily and then come back.

“Victoria helped support me there as a sister and not as a colleague,” Adriana said.

Four years of Student Government together have presented challenges, though. Victoria and Adriana said it can be difficult to navigate an environment where they’re often mistaken for each other.

“Everyone assumes that if they (your twin) have an opinion, you also have the same opinion. And I would say that’s not true,” Adriana said. “Because oftentimes, even now … I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t agree with her.’ And people will be almost shocked that I could possibly have other opinions.”

With the onset of SGA’s new session, the twins will start to separate more, as Adriana begins to focus on preparing for her master’s degree, and Victoria looks to continue her work in SGA as a senator. 

Separating but not really

Adriana will wrap up her bachelor’s degree this month, but she doesn’t plan to go too far. She’ll pursue her master’s degree in criminal justice at WSU this fall.

“It’s up in the air in terms of where exactly I want to take it,” Adriana said. “Right now, I just want to continue learning more, get some practical experience.”

Victoria still has a year left on her dual bachelor’s degree, meaning the twins have another year guaranteed together. 

And while the pair is sure to be confused for each other a few more times at Wichita State, they said it’s not all bad.

“Innately, we are entangled at our cores to be forever mistaken for each other,” Victoria said. “But I will say this forever — and I always say it when people get our names wrong — is ‘That’s such a compliment to be considered Adriana because she’s my favorite person.’ So why would that be upsetting to me?”