ROGERS, Minn. – People who attended commencement at Rogers High School were forgiven if they thought they heard an echo.
The repetition in last names had nothing to do with acoustics, but rather the five sets of twins and three sets of triplets crossing the stage.
Triplet Morgan Sagehorn is used to people being surprised.
“People would always be like, “Oh, you’re a triplet, that’s so cool,’ and then we were like, ‘That’s just kind of a normal thing around here,” said Morgan, seated beside her brother Drew and sister Sydney.
Rogers’ three sets of triplets attended the same elementary school during kindergarten and first grade, giving their situation a sense of normalcy from an early age.
“When you go other places, the more people I’ve met the more I’ve realized how unique it is to be a triplet. Everybody finds that so interesting,” said Amanda Penick, one third of the trio that includes her brother Cory and sister Jackie.
“We're more like, ‘what’s it like not being a triplet?’” continued Amanda.
Multiple births have been on the upswing in the U.S. due in part to increases in fertility treatment and women delaying pregnancies until later in life.
Still, three sets of triplets in a class of 350 far exceeds statistical norms.
“I could never imagine a life without Jakob and Josi,” triplet Jared Dotterer said of his brother and sister.
“I would be so bored as a single child, I’d have nothing to do,” added Jakob Dotterer.
The Rogers High School twins include Lindsey and Jordan Pratt, Alexis and Peter Fehr, Savannah and AJ Wedell, Jake and Alyssa Johnson, and David and Andy Fisher.
“I’ve know a lot of these guys since I was younger,” Savannah Wedell said. “They’re some of my best friends, so it never really occurred to me it was any different.”