Everyone always said they looked alike, but they never knew why; that is, until they found out that they were actually sisters.

Sophomore Rachel Orsinger and her sister Jennifer Gottemoller were both born in China and admitted to the same orphanage. The biological data about them, however, was lost.

Two families from Glenview and Palos Park, the Orsingers and the Gottemollers, respectively, both adopted children from the international agency Life Link.

The Orsingers ended up adopting Rachel, and the Gottemollers adopted Jennifer. In the process, Rachel and Jennifer became friends, according to Rachel.

“We were adopted in the summer of 1996, and that was right before [the adoption process] got long [and tedious],” Rachel said. “I was nine months old, […] and [Jennifer] was three years old.”

According to Rachel, she and Jennifer, as well as their families, remained close.

“[Our families] celebrated holidays [together], and [Jennifer and I] went out together a lot,” Rachel said. “When we were younger [and] our schedules were less busy, every summer […] we’d always go downtown and get a hotel room with just our moms and us […] and go to Navy Pier and the American Girl store, and I thought that was always fun.”

According to Rachel, the adoption agency did not know at the time that the two girls were related because they didn’t have their birth records.

Rachel’s mom was the one to suggest a DNA test for the girls.

“A lot of people say we looked alike, […] but I didn’t think so,” Rachel said. “When I was in sixth grade and Jennifer was a freshman in high school, they were just like, ‘Let’s do a DNA test.’”

The DNA cotton swab test came back and confirmed the sisters were biologically related with a high score of 89 percent, according to Rachel.

“We were family friends, and then in the middle we found out we were sisters,” Rachel said. “It made us a little closer.”

According to Rachel, when the girls found out, they had a joint mass and party to celebrate in the spring of 2009.

“We held a big celebration at my old house in Palos Park with all of Rachel’s family and friends,” Jennifer said. “It was definitely different from all the other parties I had. Who’d expect to have a party for finding a biological sister?”

At the party, Rachel recalled that Jennifer’s grandmother even mistook her for being Jennifer from behind because they looked so alike.

“I believe this experience was put into my life for a reason,” Jennifer said. “I can’t understand it quite yet, but I know someday I will. As for now, Rachel and I remain […] friends, and maybe [there will] come a day when we will rely more on each other.”