When people see twins, it can be assumed that the two are carbon copies of each other: that they wear the same outfits, finish each others sentences or can read one another’s mind.

However, identical twins Kevin and Colin Otubu admit that while they are similar in certain aspects, they are two separate people.

“I’m taller!” said Colin, a junior finance major. “But we’re still our own person. We aren’t attached at the hip. Some people have this idea that when you see twins, they’re thinking the same thing, but he’ll always be the first person to disagree with me or I’ll disagree with him.”

When separating themselves, Kevin describes himself as the talkative one.

“I’ll talk to anybody, but Colin’s take is more…he doesn’t like to waste his time. Colin is just as social, but he always says I ramble and ramble and ramble,” said Kevin, a junior entrepreneurship major.

“Yeah. Kevin just talks a lot,” Colin said. “But it’s not that I think I’m wasting my time. It’s just that I’ll only speak if I have to. Kevin talks enough for the two of us.”

Whether they’re talking or not, the brothers definitely have a lot to discuss.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Colin and Kevin have always been involved with something or a part of an organization. Their years at Kent have been no exception.

In their junior year, both are running unopposed in Kent’s Undergraduate Student Government elections. In addition to USG, the brothers are members of multiple student organizations including the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Body Acceptance Movement and Order of Omega.

“We were just so involved in high school,” Colin said. “Not just with sports but with activities and clubs. It’s the same here at Kent. You don’t really get the whole experience of college unless you’re involved.”

Kevin said the twins’ involvement keeps them in the same friends groups.

“I think we’re part of almost all the same organizations and we have the same friends,” Kevin said. “So we’re really close with certain things. But in other ways, we’re a lot different.”

While the brothers have no classes with one another this semester, in their free time they are able to spend plenty of time together. They live in the same house and their rooms are next door to each other.

Overall, the twins both want to make the best of their experiences in college. In their opinion, being involved is one of the best things you can do at this time in your life.

“There’s only going to be one other time when you go through college, you know?” Colin said. “The university puts so much time and effort to plan these things out. There are over 300 organizations available to students. Take advantage.”

The activities available at Kent are just one of the aspects that contributed to the Otobus choosing to attend the university.

Staying in state was not an option for Colin and Kevin, who saw their high school classmates choosing to stay close to home. Kevin was originally going to Nebraska and Colin to Kansas State.

But with their mother six hours away in Chicago, it makes it easier on her, and them, that they are able to be with one another in Ohio.

“Since we have just our mom and each other, it definitely helps that we go to the same school,” Kevin said.

We try to talk to her everyday and she sleeps easy knowing we’re both here at Kent,” Colin added.

When asked about their future, both see themselves going to law school. Kevin wants to be a corporate lawyer, but Colin has another idea.

“My goal is to eventually run a company together, but I’m not sure what it would be yet, “ Colin said.

Whatever the Otubu twins end up doing, they will always have each other there for support. It always helps to have a sibling there for you, but having a twin is different type of bond.

When asked to name one word to describe each other, both twins laughed at the question.

“For Colin, I’d definitely say blunt and honest,” Kevin said.

“For Kevin I’d say…probably charismatic,” Colin said.

However in the end, Kevin had a change of heart.

“Change that. For what I think of Colin,”  he said. “Dependable. That’s what I’d say about him.”

 

Contact McKenzie Jean-Philippe at [email protected].