LIBERTY TWP., Ohio — UPDATE, May 1: All four quadruplets from Lakota East High School in Liberty Township, Ohio, have made their college choice.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show Monday morning, the four announced they all will attend Yale University in the fall.
The quadruplets, Nick, Zach, Aaron and Nigel Wade, drew national attention for their academic prowess and admissions acceptance by Ivy League universities and other top-tier colleges across the nation.
ORIGINAL REPORT, April 27:
The Wade brothers of Lakota East High School in Liberty Township, Ohio, are somewhat of a Fantastic Four.
The quadruplet seniors earned the nickname by accomplishing an amazing feat. All four just learned they have been accepted at top Ivy League universities of Yale, Harvard and others.
The Wades -- Aaron, Zachary, Nigel and Nick -- are drawing national media attention for their achievement. They were profiled in the Washington Post and spent most of Wednesday afternoon being followed by a national TV network news crew during their classes.
“I have had the honor of knowing these boys since they were young because of knowing their mom and dad,” said Lakota East High School Principal Suzanna Davis. “I have watched these boys grow up into young men … and as students, they epitomize what we would want from high school students.
“They are the epitome of academic focus but well-rounded in every way we would want a child to be well-rounded, but each one of them is so very distinct from one another. Their individual personalities are what truly set them apart as high school students and as great young men.”
The four are uniformly good natured, so much so that their version of an argument is to disagree over which sibling is the smartest.
“Aaron is brilliant,” said Nick Wade.
“No, no,” said Aaron Wade. “You’re the guy who got a state department scholarship to study Arabic.”
What they do all agree on is crediting their parents and teachers for helping to earn such an exciting opportunity.
“We’re grateful to our parents and the Lakota school district because it’s really something we couldn’t have done on our own without all the support we have had through our lives. It has been awesome,” said Nick Wade, who along with Nigel and Zachary Wade, is leaning toward attending Yale.
Aaron Wade, however, currently has Stanford University as his leading choice.
“It’s really our parents our friends and our community who have come together and taught us how to be disciplined. We feel like getting into these schools show who the people around us are,” said Nigel Wade.
Zachary Wade nodded in agreement and said, “There has never been a time in our life whenever we said something (career goals), and they said, ‘Oh, that’s a big goal.’”
“They said, ‘I know you guys can do it. You guys are hard workers, and the sky’s the limit,’” said Zachary Wade. “We were never told that we couldn’t get somewhere.”
Nigel Wade said while they were all surprised by college acceptances, another bonus has been “we’ve all, kind of, grew closer to each other.”
Watch video of the brothers discussing their accomplishment at Journal-News.