This fall, faculty at the School of Law might notice two students who bear more than a passing resemblance to each other.
While Martin Santiago and Jose Santiago are identical twins, they are perhaps even more alike in their actions than their looks.
“It’s like we are the same person,” Jose said.
The Santiago’s lived in Puerto Rico until age six, then moved to Florida not far from Daytona Beach, where they attended first grade and learned English.
In 2011, they moved to Creedmoor, North Carolina. Their father worked as a mechanical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry and their mother oversaw the twins.
“(Moving) was a big shift,” Martin said. “You go from everything being two minutes away to needing to drive 20 minutes to go everywhere.”
They attended a private Baptist middle school where most of the students were African American and were home-schooled during their high school years.
During those years, both learned and later taught Taekwondo. “We saw a show on TV called ‘Kicking it,’” Jose said. “We had a Taekwondo school nearby. It’s a lot of fun kicking stuff.”
Both are third degree Black Belts, though Jose laughs when asked who is better. “(Martin) is a little more flexible and his kicks look a little nicer.”
Both earned associate degrees at Wake Technical Community College. They both also taught Sunday School
Next, they transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study political science. Both also served on the Honor Court – a student-led court for minor infractions.
Jose decided to study law in the interest of promoting fairness. “Law does tend toward that,” he said. “It makes me kind of angry when things aren’t fair.”
Martin said it was a variety of people that persuaded him to study law including a mother who is interested in politics, a grandfather who was a police officer and a professor at his community college.
As for choosing the NCCU School of Law, Jose likes its mission, part of which is helping the underrepresented community. Martin, who enjoys working with kids, hopes to take part in the Juvenile Law Clinic.
While neither has chosen an area of law to practice in, they would like to form a law practice together.
“That is the dream,” Jose said.