Tiger triplets walk at graduation
Left to right: Hayden Wall, Gabe Wall and Daniel Wall. Submitted photo
Medford High School’s graduation ceremony featured a rare occurrence last Friday when triplets Daniel, Gabe and Hayden Wall all walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), triplet or higher-order birth rates in the U.S. are approximately 79.6 in 100,000 live births.
“It’s exciting. It felt like forever to get here, but now it’s like, ‘It’s already here!’ So it’s pretty cool. We’ve all been really excited as a family about it,” said Rachel Wall, mother of Daniel, Gabe and Hayden.
Since moving to Medford from southwestern Michigan 12 years ago, Rachel Wall has been a part of Medford High School working as the head cook in the school’s kitchen, giving her a front-row seat to her kid’s progression through Medford’s schools.
According to Wall, despite having three children all in the same grade she felt that there was never any real competition amongst siblings in their studies and that each was focused and supportive of one another throughout their time in school together.
“I think it’s been fun in a sense. It is a little bit difficult at times because you’re always kind of grouped in with the other two as ‘the triplets,’” said Hayden Wall.
Despite being grouped in together at school, the three siblings have plans for entirely separate paths post-graduation.
Daniel Wall has already enlisted to join the U.S. Marine Corps, while Hayden and Gabe Wall will be continuing their studies at Riverland Community College (RCC) in Owatonna.
Daniel said that he is both excited and nervous to join the Marines as he looks forward to a new experience outside of Minnesota.
Hayden will be pursuing a career as an EMT while Gabe hopes to become a police officer after studying at RCC.
According to Rachel Wall, she is very proud of her children’s choices in occupations and supports them in whatever path they choose to take post-graduation.
Daniel, Gabe and Hayden all walked across the stage to receive their diplomas and joined Medford’s ceremonial parade through town to celebrate their final day as a Medford Tiger before becoming alumni.