UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Appearing for a Zoom interview, brothers Anakin and Ansel Reinbold, both undergraduates in the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, sat together beneath a single display name. Asked to identify which was which, they declined.
“We’re going to let you guess,” one said. “Take your best shot.”
It was a fitting introduction to brothers who have spent much of their lives in tandem. Over the next hour, one would begin an answer and the other would supply a detail or correction. They reminded each other of forgotten names, disputed whether they look enough alike to be mistaken for twins and shifted easily between speaking for themselves and as a pair.
The brothers had spent the academic year together at University Park. Now home for the summer in Reading, Pennsylvania, they were completing nursing compliance requirements and CPR certification, going to the gym, relaxing and attending weekly meetings with their Civil Air Patrol unit.
If they sound close, well, they are.
“The glory goes to our mother,” Anakin said. “She instilled in us the idea that we are best friends for life.”
When possible, she placed them in the same activities. The idea was not only sentimental, he said, but also practical: If one grew bored, the other might pull him back in. If one struggled, the other could provide support.
“Throughout 19 years of life together, that’s still holding strong,” Anakin said.
The brothers swam together on a summer team and served with the same local volunteer fire department. Then, they ended up pursuing the same degree.
Their interest in nursing began with their father, a nurse at a state psychiatric hospital who came home most nights with a story from his shift.
“When I was younger, that was just entertainment for me,” Anakin said. “But as I grew older, I realized, this is a job where every day you can meet someone new, learn their story and really help them.”
Ansel said that listening to his father had a similar effect on him. “His care for people really assimilated in me,” he said.
Now, Anakin, 22, is entering his fourth year in the college’s bachelor of science in nursing program. Ansel, 19, is a second-year student in the same program. This fall, Ansel will remain at University Park while Anakin heads to Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where all University Park students spend at least one year completing immersive clinical experiences.
Anakin chose the Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing after touring nursing programs around the state.
“At Penn State, you receive both the benefits of a big school and a small college,” he said. “It’s very easy to get support, get help and bond with your peers, especially during those clinical classes. But at the same time, there’s a lot to get involved with and a lot of support from the alumni network.”
The college, he said, was neither isolated from the rest of university life nor so large that an individual nursing student could be overlooked.
When Ansel later received offers from nursing programs at Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh, he said their mother strongly favored the option that would simplify transportation for the family.
Anakin had his own reasons for wanting Ansel at Penn State, he said.
“I know some people want to get away from their siblings as fast as possible,” he said. “But, like I said, we’re best friends. We still are, always have been. So, I said, ‘Hey, it’d be great for you to be here. I’m only going to be on campus for one more year before I’m at Hershey. Why don’t you join me?’”
By the time Ansel enrolled, Anakin was ready with a list of everything he wanted to show him.
Conveniently, Anakin was a resident assistant in the Pollock Area; Ansel was assigned housing there as a first-year student, a two-minute walk away.
They ate most meals together and tried to watch a movie most nights — typically, action films. They went to the gym and the pool. Anakin walked his brother to the Palmer Museum of Art, the Arboretum at Penn State and the downtown restaurants he already knew.
“He was helping to expose me to all the different areas around campus that I normally wouldn’t venture out to,” Ansel said. “He really helped break me out of my shell.”
They also studied together when they could.
“It’s more fun, and a little more motivating, to work with someone,” Anakin said. “We could always end the night by saying, ‘Hey, teach me what you just learned.’”
“It even helps me concentrate more, just being with someone else who’s doing work next to me,” Ansel added.
Ansel described Anakin as someone he can ask how to approach a difficult class or organize his studying. Before Ansel took anatomy and physiology, Anakin walked him through bones, muscles and blood vessels until the material felt familiar.
But Anakin does not explain everything, he said; he deliberately has not previewed some of the hands-on nursing skills taught in the program’s second year. He remembers the nervousness and fun of entering the simulation lab without knowing exactly what it would feel like to place a stethoscope on another person’s chest or conduct an assessment.
Soon, Ansel will begin those experiences — just as Anakin leaves for his clinical year at Hershey.
Anakin joked that his younger brother may be relieved to no longer have him “breathing down his neck.” Ansel said he is ready to find out how he manages on his own — though Anakin already has plans for a microbiology review over winter break, he said.
And, while their time on the same campus was brief, it was the year Anakin had hoped for.
“We had a lot of fun,” he said. “After classes, hanging out together, just being brothers again.”