Katie Shupe of Hebron and her brother, Dylan Ross of Salisbury, might be separated in age by a couple of years, but fate brought them to the stage for graduation on the same night. Shupe is a certified nursing assistant who earned her certification at Wor-Wic and now works at Atlantic General Hospital. She earned her general studies degree in preparation for entering the nursing program at Wor-Wic Community College. She follows in the footsteps of her mother, also a nurse who graduated from Wor-Wic.

Shupe’s brother, meanwhile, is following the path of their father, who owns his own towing business. Ross works as a mechanic for his father’s company, and studied business in hopes of one day starting his own company. Ross is a veteran of the National Guard, and credits Fred Howard, Wor-Wic’s director of veterans services, with encouraging him to pursue his education. Ross received an associate degree in business from Wor-Wic.

Luckily, since Shupe and Ross are in different programs, they’ve kept the sibling rivalry to a minimum. “We’ve never had a class together,” Ross said.

However, Shupe says: “When we go to visit our grandmother and she asks about our grades, I do like to tell her when I’m doing better than he is!” Regardless of which student has a higher GPA, their grandmother plans to watch with pride as both march at commencement.

Photo: From left, Katie Shupe of Hebron was inspired by her grandmother, Ann Lung, to go back to school alongside younger brother Dylan Ross of Salisbury. The siblings were able to graduate from Wor-Wic Community College together; Shupe said that impressing their grandmother with higher grades made it a fun competition, even though they were in different programs..