May 18, 2015
Lizzie Valverde and Katy Olson/Facebook/Twitter
Sisters Lizzie Valverde, left, and Katy Olson were adopted by different families more than 30 years ago and met as students in the Columbia classroom.
Lizzie Valverde, 35, will graduate from Columbia University on Monday, and her sister, Katy Olson, will be there cheering her on.
Last year, Olson, 34, graduated from Columbia and Valverde was the one in the stands cheering for her sister.
The year before that, the biological sisters had been strangers.
The story of their serendipitous reunion, which was featured in The New York Times on Friday, began in a storytelling class at Columbia back in January 2013.
After class, Katy Olson approached Lizzie Valverde and said, “I think we’re sisters,” she recalled to The Times. Valverde said she responded, “Is this real life?”
Both women had been adopted as infants after their biological mother, Leslie Parker, gave birth to both girls in Florida as a teenager.
Valverde grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, and Olson in Florida and Iowa, The Times reported.
Without meeting, the sisters had both moved to New York in their 30s and enrolled at Columbia.
They met on the first day of class after their teacher asked the students to share a bit of background about themselves.
After class, Olson approached Valverde and said, “I think we’re sisters,” she recalled to The Times. Valverde said she responded, “Is this real life?”
"I think we’re sisters." "Is this real life?" http://t.co/UwJVnxKv4I pic.twitter.com/Yyc200es8J
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 15, 2015
At the graduation ceremony on Monday, Olson will meet Parker, their biological mother, for the first time. Valverde has previously met Parker, she told The Times.
Read the full New York Times article here.
