All in the family: uncle, niece graduate from Trinity High School
Trinity High School’s 5 p.m. commencement exercises today will include an uncommon family dynamic.
Class of 2021 members Brett Wrubleski and Ameara Chandler, who is Wrubleski’s niece, will graduate together.
For Michelle Wrubleski – Brett’s mother and Ameara’s grandmother – watching them collect their diplomas at the graduation ceremony is a moment she has looked forward to since the pair began their academic careers together at Trinity North Elementary School in third grade.
“I’ve always wanted them to graduate together,” said Wrubleski. “It’s unusual that an uncle and his niece are graduating together.”
No, Ameara does not call Brett “Uncle Brett.”
The two said they feel more like siblings.
“He has always been like a brother to me. We were inseparable growing up, and before I moved to Canon-Mac my sophomore year and came back (to Trinity) partway through my senior year,” said Ameara. “We always did everything together – we’d even help each other with homework.”
Brett and Ameara said classmates sometimes didn’t initially believe them when Brett said he was Ameara’s uncle.
“When I explained that my niece was in the same grade, I’d get a couple of weird looks before it made sense to them,” said Brett.
After graduation, Brett and Ameara will follow different paths.
Brett will attend Rochester Institute of Technology to study aerospace engineering, while Ameara will pursue a degree in business management at California University of Pennsylvania.
“It’s going to be a little weird since I’m going to New York and she’s staying here. I’m not going to have any family there, and we’ve been in school together since third grade, so it will be odd not to have her at school with me,” Brett said.
Brett and Ameara, both 18, were born a week apart in 2003.
Ameara is the daughter of Wrubleski’s oldest child, Malarie McKinney, 38, and Brett is her youngest child.
So Wrubleski and McKinney shared the experience of raising a child at the same time.
“It was really nice raising the kids together with my daughter,” said Wrubleski. “I spent a lot of time being involved in their lives, and it was a unique experience being involved with my son and my granddaughter – both the same age – at the same time.”
Ameara said she and Brett helped each other get through a senior year that was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We both really like going to school. When we had to go to online learning, that was hard for us. We definitely talked about it. It was rough, and when the hybrid option opened up, we both were glad to go back to school.”
Both are looking forward to sharing the milestone event, and will continue to cheer each other on as they move on to college.
“I’m grateful that I had him with me. He’s always been there for me,” said Ameara. “I’m grateful that my uncle went through my high school years with me.”