Montville — Among Montville High School's graduating senior class, there is a set of identical twin sisters of Chinese descent who love Venezuelan arepas.

Jiaji Virginia Weng Wu and Jiahui Jennifer Weng Wu, 19, were born in Venezuela to Chinese parents who met there and opened a restaurant. They lived there until the age of 7, moving to China for some years, before landing in Connecticut.

The twins carry with them traces of the Spanish language and share many memories from their time in Venezuela. Virginia recalls being called gemela for twin and remembers their kindergarten teacher who taught her about compassion.

"The people there were welcoming and very open to new people," Virginia said. Both sisters said they never felt discriminated against or different.

The twins also remember how their grandmother had a grocery store near where they lived and they remember the food, they can never forget the food. Virginia said she loves cheese and arepas, referring to the South American staple of stuffed cornmeal cakes that are crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, even though they take a long time to make.

When the sisters were 7, Jennifer said, their mother wanted them to learn about the Chinese culture, so they took a trip to southern China. Once there, their mother decided to enroll them in a private international school in Jiangmen while she returned to Venezuela.

Virginia said they lived at the school among other foreign-born students and stayed with extended family on weekends. The twins already knew the Cantonese language but they began to learn Mandarin. They also learned English in elementary school, remembering especially the help of a Guatemalan teacher who was also Mayan and taught them a lot.

The twins agreed the biggest takeaway from their time in China was their education. Virginia said they had high honor classes in middle school that she didn't like. On top of a rigorous and competitive environment, the twins experienced many challenges in this time — they were in separate classes, their parents divorced and their grandfather in Venezuela passed away.

"I had no friends at first," Jennifer said. "We both went through a big change in our perspective. I know this experience was hard at the time but it made us more mature and independent."

Life took a turn for the better when their grandmother returned to China to live with them as political turmoil ensued in Venezuela. A few years later, they moved to Connecticut to live with their father and stepmother in the summer of 2019 and entered the school as sophomores.

Virginia said Montville High was a totally different experience from previous schools. Here they got to move around to different classes, while class in China was in the same room but with different teachers. Coming here, the twins said it was hard to make friends and then the COVID-19 pandemic interjected, making it even more difficult. But they stuck together as they always have and enjoyed activities like being on the math team.

Jennifer said they are not in English as a second language, or ESOL, classes anymore but still like to take the time to help and meet with Spanish-speaking students.

"They are people who understand other people very well in a kind way," Kathy Dykes, a teacher in the high school's ESOL department, said about the twins. Dykes said she has shared great conversations with them and will miss them.

"Just the other day we were taking about how sometimes our greatest strengths are our greatest weakness," she said.

The Weng Wu sisters also started volunteering this year with the district's multilingual program at Mohegan Elementary School. Jennifer said she likes to help people because she understands how hard it is to learn English; she experienced it.

Lisa Kaplan, the school district's coordinator of the English learner program, said the twins are well liked by the teachers, who have nothing but praise for their kindness with children.

"Role modeling is so important for kids," Kaplan said. "They genuinely want to help."

As the two move on from high school in the coming weeks, Jennifer and Virginia, graduating with high honors, are staying local and attending the University of Connecticut in the fall. Both want to study engineering, with Jennifer's focus in chemical and Virginia's in computer science.

Jennifer was inspired during the pandemic and said she wants to help improve vaccines to prevent the spread of viruses like the one that causes COVID-19. Virginia said trying to translate documents takes a long time and she would like to use artificial intelligence to make translating easier.

j.vazquez@theday.com