High five, grads!
The 18-year-old Keogh quintuplets — Elizabeth, Patrick, Jacqueline, Brigid and Meaghan (from oldest to youngest) — graduated Thursday from Toms River High School East in New Jersey. But the siblings aren’t going their separate ways just yet: Come August, all five are headed to York College in York, Penn.
”We decided not to room together,” said Elizabeth. “Our mom said, ‘You can do what you want but you have to meet up at least once a week [for dinner].'”
“We felt like we should meet new people, branch out and live with someone new,” said Jacqueline, who shares a room with her three sisters. “We’ve basically been in the same room our whole lives.”
(Patrick, the lone dude, has his own space at home, as did older brother James, 24, and sister Kathleen, 21, when they were growing up.)
The quintuplets split driving duties for their blue minivan, dubbed “Big Blue Bertha,” and each was assigned — corresponding with their birth order — a weekday to chauffeur the brood to school. (Elizabeth would drive them on Monday and Meaghan on Friday.)
“Brigid is the worst driver. It’s whiplash,” said Patrick, whom they all agree is the funniest of the quints.
Elizabeth likes to sing and performs in the chorus. “Jacqueline is the peacekeeper,” said Meaghan, who admits: “I’m the mom of the group.”
Actual mom Susan, a school paraprofessional, and dad Jim — an electrician who kept a spreadsheet for the kids’ year-round sports schedule — dressed the five in matching outfits until middle school. But each sibling has always gotten their own birthday dinner.
The quintuplets as toddlersTamara Beckwith“She wants us to all have our own special moment,” said Meaghan of her mom.
One big thing they share? The quints were collectively awarded their high school’s annual Principal’s Scholarship, which principal Patrick Thomas gives to the senior — usually just one — who best embodies their school’s values.
They also all got a “generous” financial package from York, Susan said. “And it felt like home to everyone as soon we visited.”
Jacqueline will be studying civil engineering. Both Meaghan and Brigid will pursue nursing degrees, while Elizabeth will major in special education and Patrick in marketing.
A tearful Susan said she can barely imagine what it will be like for her and Jim to have an empty nest.
“It will be crazy. I will only have to cook one pound of chicken instead of 10 pounds,” she said, adding she plans to call the quintuplets all the time.
“Thank god for technology. If they answer, that is.”
