Leonard and Leonard.

The shingle outside a law office may carry those names one day.

For now, two other words must describe a Salisbury brother-and-sister team whose partnership through school built a remarkable success story.

Valedictorian. Salutatorian.

Twins Justin and Michelle Leonard graduated Saturday night as the top two academic performers of the Salisbury High School Class of 2001. In remarks to his fellow graduates, valedictorian Justin spoke of having dreams, setting goals, depending on people, believing in one’s self and valuing each moment.

Only Michelle and the twins’ parents, Roger and Karen Leonard, probably realized the full weight of those words. To reach the podium they stood behind Saturday night, the twins had done all the things Justin had spoken of, many times over.

“For each thing they had a passion for, we always supported them,” Karen Leonard says. “They have always been each other’s best friend and have learned from each other. They make the perfect team.”

When Justin and Michelle were in first grade, the Leonard family started a tradition that it still follows. Every New Year’s Day at lunch, the family sits down and each individual sets his or her goals for the next 12 months.

“That’s had an impact on my life,” Michelle says. “A lot of it goes back to Mom and Dad.”

Justin’s goals for the year: Stay No. 1 in his class, keep his string of straight A’s intact, increase his maximum bench press (215 pounds), decide between Duke and N.C. State and secure the scholarships to attend either one.

Michelle’s goals: Stay No. 2 in her class, help the Salisbury tennis team win its 100th consecutive conference match, win the 100th match of her own tennis career, continue her volunteer work with Red Cross and other groups and make a college choice.

Halfway through the year, all the goals are accomplished.

Maybe it started when Justin used to hold Michelle’s hand and walk her to her desk in their earliest grades, but what could have easily been a sibling rivalry never materialized. What could have been competitive became complementary. What could have been bruised feelings and jealousy became respect for each other’s talents.

“We don’t fight it,” Justin says of being twins. “That’s just the way it is.”

Justin and Michelle never missed a day of school from kindergarten through 12th grade. For three years, they were finalists in the International Science and Engineering Fair, and their five-year research project into the effects of second-hand smoke awaits publication, maybe even a patent.

Justin lettered in sports 14 times at Salisbury High; Michelle, 13, including twice being named Rowan County’s best female tennis player. The academic and civic awards for each are too numerous to list, but they are properly displayed in their bedrooms and in a den upstairs.

They became finalists or semifinalists for the state’s most prestigious scholarships and, in the end, are receiving roughly $31,000 each to attend Duke University, with the remainder of their costs picked up by other scholarships they secured.

Michelle plans to major in political science; Justin will double major in electrical and computer engineering.

Michelle wants to go to law school, concentrate on civil law and one day become a judge. Justin dreams of going to law school and, as an attorney, says he would focus on civil matters dealing with technology.

The 18-year-old twins also crammed a lifetime of civic service into their four years of high school.

They attended national conferences for the American Red Cross, took two mission trips to Mexico and a Hurricane Floyd relief mission to Greenville. They volunteered for Special Olympics and at the homeless shelter.

Together, they made a video for the Red Cross that showed active land mines and how they are detected and dismantled. The awareness project, which included work with then American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole, led Michelle to make a presentation to the British Red Cross in England.

In 11th grade, they designed the “E-couragement Program” for students identified as dropout risks. It used student volunteers at Catawba and Livingstone colleges to establish e-mail relationships with the at-risk students.

The twins organized students nationwide and dreamed up the “Run, Liddy, Run” event — a run from Wilmington to Salisbury — that was part of the national draft effort in 1999 to encourage Salisbury native Dole to run for president.

Through all their leadership activities, competitions, civic participation and awards ceremonies, the Leonards have traveled to cities such as Philadelphia, Washington, Fort Worth, Detroit, Orlando and Reynosa, Mexico.

When it came to applying for schools and financial aid, they received glowing recommendations from people such as Dole, former Salisbury Mayor Margaret Kluttz, Catawba College President J. Fred Corriher Jr. and research chemist J. Dennis Eargle of Greensboro.

“They have a sense of true joy as they work through the problems and challenges associated with the conduct of complex experiments,” wrote George Howard, professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Alabama, in his college recommendation letter.

Roger Leonard sheepishly recalls graphing the kids’ elementary school grades on the refrigerator door. But maybe it helped, he adds.

“I’m a true believer that children will rise to the level of your expectations,” says the father, a computer engineer. “And they have done that.”

The Leonards’ graduation Saturday night would be an inspiring story even without all of their accomplishments.

When Karen Leonard was pregnant with the twins, she went into premature labor at 25 weeks — 15 weeks too early. A team of doctors worked frantically, trying several different drugs to stop the labor, but they feared that delivery was imminent.

At one point, they told the Leonards to consider making funeral arrangements for the twins. If they were delivered at 25 weeks, the babies would weigh only 1.5 pounds, with only a 25 percent chance of making it. If they survived at 25 weeks, they had only a 15 percent chance to have a normal life.

Doctors finally stopped Karen Leonard’s labor and held off delivery, but the obstetrics team insisted that she stay in a hospital bed for the next 11 weeks. Her mother washed her hair in the bed, and she had to rely on a hospital bedpan. When she had made it 34 weeks into her pregnancy, doctors allowed Leonard to stay at her grandmother’s house, close to the hospital.

The expectant mother never stood up, as she was transferred from bed to stretcher to ambulance and back to bed again. At 36 weeks, doctors allowed Karen Leonard to stand and go home. The next day she went into labor and delivered the twins, each weighing about 4 pounds 8 ounces.

“We were just thankful for each day, and that’s kind of how we brought them up,” Karen Leonard says.

The babies had to stay two more weeks in the hospital before heading home. Doctors told the Leonards to expect the children to always be about six months behind other kids.

“We never told them that until recently,” Karen Leonard said.

Today, Michelle describes her brother as the quantitative twin — the numbers, scientific person, interested in facts.

“He’s the one who can sleep through calculus,” Michelle says.

Justin says his sister is the qualitative, people person, interested more in subjects such as English and history.

“She’s a good friend, when you need a friend,” he adds.

Michelle likes to run, play tennis and mountain bike for recreation. Justin lifts weights, scuba dives and bikes, too. They have the same musical tastes. Justin has passed Michelle in height by a good head.

Justin and Michelle sometimes double-date and have shared the same car since receiving their licenses. Roger and Karen Leonard gave their children the option of having one new car or the equivalent amount of money for two used cars. The twins chose a new Mitsubishi Eclipse, knowing they could share.

Returning to the question of rivalry and jealousy between the two, Justin shrugs and says it wouldn’t have been worth it. They were in the same classes all through school. Even in high school, they had 26 of 28 classes together.

“It was always, she was going to get the higher grade, or I was going to get the higher grade,” Justin says of a basic reality. So when it happened, the sibling with the lower grade just chose to be happy for the other, he adds.

Living under the same roof simply served as a reminder for each about their classwork.

“If I saw him studying, I’m going to study, too,” Michelle says. “It’s never a competition-type thing.”

The twins’ journey to graduation Saturday night had many role models and mentors along the way, besides their parents. The family members sent out invitations and held a reception at their home prior to graduation Saturday to thank all the people who had helped.

An interesting side note: Fifty years ago, the twins’ grandmother, Evelyn Gobble Graham, spoke as valedictorian of her Cleveland High School Class of 1951. In her speech, she spoke of setting a goal for life, one that will offer a worthy reward when the graduates’ final steps are taken.

Justin mentioned goals, too, Saturday night, but he especially reminded his classmates to value each moment of the lives they have left. Work hard, live each day well and start now, he said.

It works for Leonard and Leonard.

Contact Mark Wineka at mwineka@salisburypost.com  or 704-797-4263.