Storing an array of references to variables - php

Question

I've a set of html select tags I've used PHP to render. :
$templates = array( 'Template1', 'Template2', 'Template3', 'Template4');
$templates_dropdown = '<select required id="templates" name="admin[template_select]">
<option value="">'.__( 'Pick a template', 'textdomain' ).'</option>';
foreach( $templates as $value){
$template_value = esc_html( $value );
$templates_dropdown .= '<option value="' . $template_value . '">' . $template_value . '</option>' . "\n";
}
$templates_dropdown .= '</select>';
There are about 5 select tags which I've to close every time like the last line above. Instead of closing each one, is there a way to alter the original variable using variable reference like:
$foo = 'Bob'; // Assign the value 'Bob' to $foo
$bar = &$foo; // Reference $foo via $bar.
$bar = "My name is $bar"; // Alter $bar...
echo $bar;
echo $foo; // $foo is altered too.
Something along the lines of:
//this doesnt work
$test = 'world one';
$test2 = 'world two';
$test3 = 'world three';
$close_select_tags = array( &$test, &$test2, &$test3);
foreach($close_select_tags as $value){
$value .= 'check';
}
echo $test;
echo "\n";
echo $test2;
echo "\n";
echo $test3;
echo "\n";
I know I can simply use array destructuring or store the select tag variables inside an array, just wondering why storing the references in an array and altering the values doesn't work.