The announcers at graduation ceremonies of Alta and Brighton High schools will have several opportunities to get the last names of three families correct. It might not be so difficult to correctly pronounce the last names of “Davis” or “Cooper” but they’ll have three chances to get “Folau” just right.
A trio of triplets are set to graduate June 5, 2019 from Canyons District schools. Three sets of triplets one at Brighton and two at Alta are among the estimated 2,600 students who have earned enough credits to be awarded a high school diploma as part of the Class of 2019.
Conner, Tyler and Braidon Cooper are preparing to walk across the stage with their fellow Bengals, and Bennett, Carter and Keenan Davis and Brandon, Eric and Erin Folau will march with the Hawks. Brighton’s rites will be at 2 p.m. at the Maverik Center. The Hawks will hold the school’s 10 a.m. graduation ceremony at the Utah Community Credit Union Center at Utah Valley University.
Can you imagine the level of activity every morning before school? Three times the amount of cereal bowls, misplaced backpacks, homework in folders, and missing shoes. Three times the time spent at school activities and three times the expense. But, of course, the families of the Canyons triplets get three times the enjoyment of Wednesday’s graduation ceremonies.
For their part, and like most high school seniors anxious to begin their next adventure, Conner, Tyler and Braidon are excited to walk in a fast, straight line away from the circular halls of Brighton High. They are ready to make their own, individual marks in the world and to not have the notoriety as class triplets. And no more doubling (or tripling) up in classrooms. “We have been there for each other through the good and bad,” said Conner. “We were there for each other until the end.”
This is not the first time three sets of triplets have graduated in the same year from 34,000-student Canyons District. In 2016, six sets of triplets graduated from CSD schools. In 2017 and 2018, three sets graduated. While there have been multiple years of multiples in recent Canyons graduating classes, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate a triplet or higher-order birth rate is rare. It occurs 101.6 per 100,000 live births.