The reason why two of the top three students academically in the East Providence High School graduating Class of 2024 are so close is really obvious, and that the trio as a whole are tight becomes ever more clear once you spend a few minutes in conversation with them.

Many will already know that Will and Eva Laroche, ranked second and third, respectively, are twins, fraternal twins, again obviously. The siblings, however, count top-ranked Nathan Tavares as close to being a sibling as one could possibly be without any familial relation.

Valedictorian Tavares, salutatorian Will and the East Providence-stylized avedatorian Eva will lead their mates through commencement exercises at the event's traditional home of Pierce Memorial Stadium Friday evening, June 7, beginning at 6 o'clock. A rain date, hopefully not needed, would be Sunday afternoon, June 8, at 1 o'clock also at Pierce.

As the high school stories of Tavares and the Laroches come to a conclusion, the first chapter was written some seven years ago when Will recognized Nathan upon the start of classes together in sixth grade at Riverside Middle School.

"Our first day of school at Riverside I became friends with Nathan," said Will, who along with Eva attended Waddington Elementary School prior.

"I recognized him from playing rec soccer when we were younger," Will continued. "So I walked over, I sat down at his table and basically said, 'Hey, do you want to be friends?' And we've been since that day all the way to now that we're the top two in our class."

Asked jokingly if he had had any regrets about that moment in time, Tavares, who attended Silver Spring Elementary, replied, "Not at all. We've had a really good friendship."

It's a relationship that has spilled over to include Eva, who called Nathan "an honorary triplet."

There's actually a set of "real" triplets as well in the EPHS Class of 2024 — Ella, Trent and Trey DeCosta. Multiples, in fact, are astoundingly common among this year's seniors. The Laroches are one of nine, yes, nine sets of twins included in the 400-odd graduates who will walk across the stage June 7.

And Will and Eva aren't the only pair of siblings to be among the top three EPHS seniors in recent years. Twins Matthew and Christina D'Amico were valedictorian and avedictorian, respectively, in the Class of 2016. Nicholas Guarino was that's term's salutatorian and they, too, also shared a very close bond like this year's top three does.

"When we were at Waddington we knew there were a few twins and the triplets went there, too," said Eva. "And then in middle school we noticed it, but it wasn't until (EPHS Principal) Mr. (Bill) Black said it to us the other day. We had no idea it was that many. It's kind of crazy when you think about it."

By the way, the Laroches say the "twin deal" is real..."We do have telepathy," said Will. Added Eva, "I think it's because we've spent so much time together." Back to Will, "Yeah, we've spent 18 years together plus nine months in the womb plus however much life we have left together." And one last time to Eva, "And we have so many classes together and we have a lot of the same friends."

Certainly Will's best friend and someone Eva holds quite dear, Tavares, will attend Brown University in the fall where he intends to major in Pre-Med/Biochemistry with the intention of becoming a radiologist. Will is headed to Northeastern University in Boston to study Industrial Engineering to become a logistics specialist. Eva is off to Smith College in Northampton, Mass., to earn an International Relations degree with the goal of eventually working at the United National or as a foreign officer in the State Department.

Besides their academic attributes, Tavares and the Laroches also share another bond through athletics. Each played a sport for most of their high school careers.

Tavares has been among the scoring players on the EPHS golf team the last couple of years.

Eva, the team captain this past fall, was a key contributor to the Townie girls' soccer squad, especially her first few years when EPHS was a championship caliber team in Division II.

And Will was on the tennis through his sophomore year, playing and winning the only varsity counting match of his career in doubles against Providence Country Day in the semifinals of the 2022 Division III playoffs en route to the Townies capturing the league title that spring. The last two years he's served as the team manager under head coach Slade Sharma for both the boys' and girls' teams.

The three hold similar sentiments on how best East Providence High School prepared them academically and through athletics for the next step in their lives.

"At EP we definitely have a close knit community that everyone really comes together obviously among students, but teachers as well. I've built a lot of great relationships with other students and also a lot of the faculty," said Tavares.

Continued Will, proudly noting he "retired with a 100 percent win rate" in tennis, "To kind of reiterate what Nathan said, the entire thing with sports how close knit the community is and how much of a family you become once you join a sports team. There's two people (seniors) who received the 12 season award (for playing three sports all four years at EPHS). Having the people you can create friendships with. I say 'Hi' to half the tennis team in the hallway every day. I think that's a really important part of being in the community. That's something that I think I'll take away and forever cherish."

And said Eva, acknowledged by both of her male counterparts as the best athlete of the three, "I think especially with the leadership roles that start in sports, I think it kind of translates into my academics and just my life and other clubs. Especially because I play a fall sport, every year when I've come in to start it really sets me on a path, a good tone for the rest of the school year, to have that kind of energy to carry through the rest of the year."

Eva also credited past and current district athletic directors Gregg Amore and Alex Butler for creating an inclusive, positive atmosphere around sports and studies at EPHS.

She added, "And I think the adults in our school, especially Mr. Amore and Mr. Butler and what they were able to do with athletics, they created such a great environment and encouraged people, including me, to do both, academics and academics and balance that."

The three have also had to balance wanting to achieve individually while being supportive to each other even as they competed for the top spots in the class.

Fittingly, the boys had the strongest "rivalry," Eva said, adding "It's really, really close. (The guidance department) said it's closest its ever been between these two."

"Because we've been so close, one-two, there's always been a friendly rivalry. But I think we've kind of discovered it really doesn't matter that much. I'm more than fine with second. He's a deserving first," Will said of Nathan landing the valedictorian spot.

Said Tavares, "In the middle of our junior year Will was first. And it wasn't until like the beginning of this year when it kind of switched. So it's always been really close."

As the saying goes, all's well that ends well, and though this part of their lives together is coming to a close there's plenty more to look forward to between Nathan and the Laroches.

"We've had so many years together, I can't imagine us not being friends," Will said. "Obviously, Eva is my twin sister and I'll see her much, much more in my life, but Nathan and I have a lot of things we do together, like we've watched all the Marvel movies together. We go out for breakfast all the time. And I think it will continue into college. I hope it does. I've made a lot of friends at this place, met a lot of fun people and I'd like that to continue into college and beyond."

"It's been nice to have other people who are also academically motivated like us three and a lot of other people in our grade. There are a lot of other people in our class who have similar hopes and dreams for the future," said Eva, who added a bit later, "I looked on the map and it's almost like a perfect triangle from here to Boston and where I'll be (Brown to Northeastern to Smith), so I'm sure we'll still hang out together in the future."

Said Nathan, "I can definitely see myself going up to Boston to see Will and go out to dinner in the North End or something."

The last significant "something" the top three in the EPHS Class of 2024 needed to do was prepare their commencement speeches.

Tavares said his "central theme is an inspirational quote from my golf coach Bill McEnery. He has a lot of funny stories, funny sayings, so I took one of the metaphors he uses and kind of like applied it to everything I wanted to say."

Eva's talk also takes from her athletic side, based on the camaraderie and team aspects of playing sports at EPHS. "I have a quote, people in an elevator is a group, a team is people in an elevator when it's broken. And it's about what we've all been through going to school, working together, going through adversity."

Will's speech pretty much captures the spirit of what growing up in the city and graduating from its high school is all about for he and his fellow 2024 grads, "Mine is about what it means to be a 'Townie' outside of EP, redefining and continuing to be a Townie throughout your life."