HARLEYSVILLE, Pa. — They were born together, live together, work together and go to school together.
Now the Griffin quintuplets – Austin, Evan, Miranda, Lindsay and Dillon — are graduating from Souderton Area High School. But that won’t mean an immediate big transition in their lives.
“It’s just moving to the next phase,” Evan said.
All five will be going to Montgomery County Community College in the fall.
Longer term, it’s not yet known where they’ll go to complete their education, but they’ll likely be going in different directions as they work toward various careers, the Griffins said.
Up until now, the five siblings have been sharing the same ride.
“Just recently, Evan got a car, and that was within the last month, but they’ve been sharing a car, all five,” Kathy Griffin, their mother, said.
“It’s actually working out pretty well,” Miranda said.
The quintuplets split the car expenses among themselves and take turns putting gas in it, Kathy said.
All five work in the dining services department at Meadowood Senior Living in Worcester.
The quintuplets, whose 19th birthday is May 26, have worked at Meadowood since they were 15, Kathy said.
“They’re paying for their own college,” she said.
Meadowood planned to honor the quintuplets at its June 1 annual Scholarship Dinner, the senior living community said in a release.
“One of their supervisors, Mary Ann Murray, described them as the kindest, most respectful, hard-working teenagers she’s encountered,” the release said.
Residents of Harleysville, the Griffin quintuplets attended Oak Ridge Elementary School, Indian Valley Middle School and Souderton Area High School. They’re not the first quintuplets in the Souderton schools, Kathy Griffin said; the Miorelli quintuplets graduated a few years ago.
Austin and Dillon were on the track team at the high school, Miranda was in the musical each year she was at the high school and Lindsay was in the musical two years, the Griffins said. Evan played baseball until junior high.
Each of the Griffin quintuplets is starting college with undeclared majors, but they have plans for their ultimate careers.
Austin’s interest is in directing and editing films.
“I just like the whole process of starting out with something and creating it,” he said.
Miranda plans to study theater/film.
“Throughout high school, I was really into acting,” she said.
After seeing Austin’s work behind the camera, though, and having taken a class involving more of the behind the camera work, Miranda said, she’s interested in both.
“It just gives you a little more options,” she said.
Lindsay said she likes creative writing and writing poetry and plans to study film/screenwriting.
It’s not surprising to see the interest in filmmaking, Kathy said, because in their earlier teen years, the quintuplets made ones together at home.
“They had such a good time with that so I knew something was going to happen with that,” she said.
Dillon plans to study environmental science. An environmental science class that included a lot of outdoor experiments and a geology course at SAHS both played a role in his decision, he said.
“I just like the outdoors,” he said.
Evan plans on studying criminal justice and working in law enforcement.
Forensics and practical law classes at SAHS, along with taking part in a summer police and military camp all sparked his interest in the field, he said.
The quintuplets, who were about three months premature, were around 2 pounds each when they were born, with Lindsay the smallest at 1 pound, 7 ounces, Kathy said.
“Everything was fine. It’s just they were really small and skinny, so it was a little scary,” she said.
Several volunteers from Christ Lutheran Church in Kulpsville helped with the feeding, she said.
The quintuplets help each other out a lot, she said.
“They laugh a lot together about everything from school and stuff,” Kathy said.
When they have classes together, they can study together, she said.
“I wish they’d clean up their rooms a little more, but other than that, I’m proud,” she said.
“If any of you go through any trauma or anything, you have each other,” she told the quintuplets. “You have each other, and you know you have me.”
