Brother-sister meet at youth academy

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A teenage brother and sister who hadn't seen each other since 1992 were reunited earlier this month.<br/><br/>Sixteen-year-old Kelly Hardwick of Broken Bow and 18-year-old Rachel

Friday, December 23rd 2005, 9:56 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A teenage brother and sister who hadn't seen each other since 1992 were reunited earlier this month.

Sixteen-year-old Kelly Hardwick of Broken Bow and 18-year-old Rachel Rice of Jenks were separated when they were adopted by different families.

Both graduated from Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor last Saturday and when Rachel's father heard Kelly's name called he wondered if it could be his daughter's biological brother.

He found the Hardwick family and the two determined Rachel and Kelly are the brother and sister who had not seen each other since Rachel was 5 and Kelly was 2. The two had gone through the 22 week academy without realizing their relationship.

The academy is part of the National Guard Youth Foundation that helps at-risk youth and targets 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts.