BY BRITTI PAUDYAL ’21, Nepal
The United World College-USA will have four sets of twins in 2021-22.
Twins Cyndia and Mark Wani ‘22, USA-NC, will be joined by three sets of first-year twins. Of those, two sets are from the United States and the third is from China.
One set of twins for the Class of 2023 are the sons of UWC-USA physics teacher Dr. Peter Samaranayake, better known as Dr. Sam.
Both sophomores, Xandro and Yohan Samaranayake will be 15 when they start the school year in August; they will turn 16 in January. Xandro goes to Menaul Boarding School in Albuquerque, while Yohan attends Robertson High School in Las Vegas.
“After 20 years as a principal, I took on this job four years ago because I knew that I wanted them to experience the UWC mission and environment,” said Dr. Sam. “Thus, I feel that these four years have made them appreciate this great school and want to be a part of this culture.”
The boys participated in the virtual summer UWC Global Leadership Forum and look forward to being part of the UWC movement and making their own contributions.
Both U.S. citizens, Xandro and Yohan are originally from Myanmar and Sri Lanka and have lived in China and the Virgin Islands, and have visited Australia. They also lived in Texas, Wisconsin and California before moving to New Mexico 4 years ago.