Senior Zachary Gelfand was brought into this world three minutes before his fraternal twin Elijah Gelfand, and both have been closely knit since those three minutes on December 17, 1995.

The boys have grown up side-by-side, sharing many childhood memories. Commonly known as Eli and Zach, they don’t know life without a twin. However, during  their vacation to Georgia, southerners were astonished to see identical people. The twins recalled that elderly people had their jaws dropped in amusement when they heard the Chicago accents coming out of two people who look exactly alike.

Close friend Arviola Pemaj said she had trouble distinguishing the two at first.

“At first I couldn’t tell them apart but after hanging out with one of them for awhile, I knew which twin I was talking to. We would all hang out, and I became familiar with who was who”  Pemaj said.

Eli and Zach have a misconception they would like to disprove, which is that twins are often looked at as one person.

“When I was little on one of our birthdays, someone gave Eli and me a gift to share instead of giving us two separate gifts,” Zach said.

“Twins are two separate people, not the same person.” Eli added.

Speeding up to Eli and Zach’s present lifestyle, not much has changed in their relationship. The two spend their weekends together, considering they have the same friends, and play on the same volleyball team.

Looking towards the future, Eli and Zach have different plans for college. Eli plans to go to Illinois State University while Zach is debating between Cardinal Stritch University or University Of Wisconsin in Whitewater.

Wherever the two end up, they will always have that special connection with each other, greater than a friend and greater than just a brother, nothing less than a twin.