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Nathan and Nicholas Mills, Part One: Brotherly Competition
10/6/2020 11:15:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Men's Track and Field
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - For Nathan and Nicholas Mills, competition is normal.
It's been that way since they were both born on October 24, 2001.
The twins have been inseparable since birth and have been sharing their activities throughout their lives. They were even both named valedictorians and became Eagle Scouts around the same time.
Now that they have reached college, they are still together a large amount of the time. They are both freshmen at Purdue Fort Wayne, they both are on the cross country and track teams, and they live together.
Their first year in college, of course, is unlike any other. Many classes are taking place solely online and others are implementing a hybrid model. As strange as the new academic setting is for Nathan and Nicholas, their success in high school paved the way for a smooth transition to the post-secondary level.
While the two were growing up in Columbia City, Indiana, Nathan and Nicholas were heavily involved in academics, athletics and other extracurricular activities, but this did not stop them from excelling at all of them. And what one of them did, the other seemed to do just as well. They both graduated with a 4.0 GPA, and were valedictorians of the 2020 class at Columbia City High School.
"Our parents were really motivating," Nicholas said. "They were always by our side and would help us out if we were struggling with something. And then having a twin it's just someone you can bounce back on, and if you have a question you can work together to solve that problem. It keeps each of us accountable."
Accountability is just one side of the coin, however.
"I think a lot of it had to do with competition," Nathan said. "When you have a twin you don't want to do worse than your twin. That friendly competition gave us that motivation to do things."
While academics were and continue to be an area of competition for Nathan and Nicholas, the two also competed to reach the pinnacle of the Boy Scouts of America organization: an Eagle Scout rank. It's an honor that only about four percent of boys and young men who are in the scouts are able to achieve.
The path to become an Eagle Scout is typically a long and arduous one, but the drive that the twins had because of each other helped them along in the process.
In first grade, the two attended an opening ceremony to recognize all the new Cub Scouts. Nathan was initially opposed to joining the Scouts, but because Nicholas was joining, he felt he had to. With a slight push from his father, Nathan came around to join the Scouts.
When they transitioned from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts, the pair saw their Scout troop move from one that had a lot of parental guidance to one that was Scout-led.
"That was a big change," Nicholas said. "That's what really helped develop our leadership skills and helped form our grit in the classroom and outside the classroom. It all helped by learning those leadership skills and accomplishing those tasks together."
Nathan and Nicholas received a lot of support from their parents, even as they moved into the higher levels of the Scouts.
"When it became more individualized, they were still really supportive and guided us even as we were getting older and more independent," Nathan said. "That's one of the biggest reasons we became Eagle Scouts, because you almost have to have that support system to lean on and to motivate you to get it done before your 18th birthday."
Both Nathan and Nicholas had their final projects of Boy Scouts help benefit Soarin'Hawk Raptor Rehabilitation Center, a nonprofit organization in Fort Wayne that helps conserve the population of birds of prey.
They both built raptor hospitalization boxes that Soarin'Hawk could use to transport injured birds from the place they were found to their rehabilitation facilities. Nicholas' box was a smaller version to transport the smaller birds of prey, while Nathan's was larger in order to house larger birds, such as eagles and hawks.
The boxes that Soarin'Hawk used prior to the Mills' projects were heavy shipping carts made of plywood. They had to be sturdy in order to move the birds safely without a chance of escape. Nathan and Nicholas' boxes were made strategically using coroplast and a lighter frame so the volunteers could easily lift them to transport the raptors.
"Since they're all volunteer-based, being able to help them out with some of that where it's of no charge to them makes it so rewarding," Nathan said. "It's a story that you can continue to tell being able to help them out."
Nathan received his Eagle Scout rank at age 15 on October 20, 2016.
"It's one of those dates that you memorize," Nathan said. "It's kind of like your birthday. It's a major accomplishment in your life, and I still see the impacts it's made on my academics and my athletics."
Nicholas earned the Eagle Scout about one month prior, only because they could not get the board to review their projects in the same cycle.
"We were very focused and driven to get to Eagle Scout," Nicholas said. "We heard all the stories of people procrastinating, and we knew we needed to be focused to get it done before too far into high school when we would get a lot more responsibilities."
This is part one of Mills twins' feature. Part two will be released next week.
~ Feel the Rumble ~
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