Triplets take 3 of Bath High School's 4 valedictorian spots

BATH TWP. - The cafeteria at Bath High School was a rustling sea of blue gowns Wednesday. The 2017 graduates were preparing for their dress rehearsal.

Katelyn Trevino pulled her blue mortarboard from its plastic covering. She already had decorated its top with a shiny, stylized "C" for Central Michigan University.

Katelyn will join her sister, Kwyn, 20, at CMU this fall.

So will her brother, Cole.

And her other brother, Case.

During 13 years in school, triplets Cole, Case and Katelyn Trevino all ran cross country, joined the band and studied Spanish. Katelyn played soccer and basketball, as well. The boys ran spring track.

And they studied, hard, following an example set by Kwyn.

"For all of them, it did not come easy," said their mother, Jill Trevino. "They put the work into it."

The work paid off. On Sunday, the triplet siblings will accept their diplomas as three of Bath High School's four co-valedictorians. The fourth is Kelsey Billingsley. 

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Superintendent Jake Huffman has known the Trevinos since they were in middle school, when he did double duty as middle school principal.

"I got to watch them grow from kids to young adults," he said. "Now they're adults heading out into the world, and they're going to do great things."

CMU wasn't the original plan. Katelyn had her heart set on attending the University of Michigan. Cole and Case were looking at Saginaw Valley State University. They visited a few other schools as well. 

But they liked the CMU campus, they liked the idea of following their sister to school and scholarship offers sealed the deal. 

Cole is planning to study criminal justice like his older sister, or possibly education.

"I just like helping people, and both of those sound like I can do a lot," he said.

Case is looking at health and human services, with the possibility of occupational therapy.

Katelyn plans to take pre-med classes, with plans to become a physician assistant or a physician. 

She is one of 20 incoming CMU freshmen to earn a competitive Centralis scholarship, which provides full tuition, room and board. Cole and Case earned Academic Excellence scholarships, which pay a part of their tuition. 

A typical graduating class in Bath is 80 to 90 students, Huffman said. There are only 70 in the class of 2017.

Defying the odds, there's one other set of triplets besides the Trevinos. Annie, Audrey and Ben Opphile moved with their family from Arizona in their early elementary years. The year they all were born, 1998, was the peak year for triplets births in the United States. 

All of the triplets are friends; Annie Opphile even was Case's date for prom. Annie and Ben will attend Ferris State University this fall. Aubrey will attend Marygrove College to study dance.

"It's pretty unique to have one set of triplets, let alone two in the same grade," Huffman said. "And all six of them are great kids." 

Four valedictorians for a school the size of Bath also is rare, Huffman said.

"We've had co-valedictorians before but this is the first time I remember having four," Huffman said. "This year's senior class has been a very strong academic class and has taken a lot of the AP classes that we offer and have taken a lot of dual-enrollment classes."

Rick and Jill Trevino are used to telling stories about growing up as parents of four toddlers at once. Jill recounts being told she was carrying twins. 

"Then we went back for an ultrasound and had three," she said. "Then we stopped going."

They recall the first year as a blur of feedings and diaper changes. The boys also are identical twins, and, for months, they made sure one of infant Cole's toenails was painted blue so they could quickly and easily tell the boys apart. Jill's parents would come from Cedar Springs to help on weekends.

"We had a lot of people in and out of the house from church and family," she said.

Rick said the family always has put an emphasis on learning. He and Jill read to all of the children early and often and got plenty of assistance from teachers, who helped each child develop their own identity.

"They never just clumped them together," he said.

Every now and then, the boys take advantage of the humor value of being identical twins. Case plays trombone in the Bath High School band. Cole plays drums. (Katelyn played clarinet, but gave that up after freshman year).

The boys recently switched places to see if they could play each other's instruments without anybody noticing.

Although their teacher never acknowledged it, other students could see that Cole was struggling with trombone and Case was out of his element on drums during a difficult "Star Wars" piece.

"Some of them, they were looking, and they were pointing, and they were talking among themselves," Cole said of their classmates. 

Once they get to college, the boys will likely room together, at least for the first year. Katelyn, who has always shared a room at home with Kwyn, will live in honors housing with other Centralis scholars. 

Huffman has no doubt they'll succeed there.

"All three of them are nice kids, they've got great attitudes and ultimately they're going to be great citizens," he said. 

Contact Kathleen Lavey at (517) 377-1251 or klavey@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @kathleenlavey.