MCDONOUGH, Ga — Every parent hopes their child succeeds, but for Cathey and Cornelius Belcher, they earned the triple crown.
Their children, triplets Kendall, Kolby, and Sydney Belcher graduated from Ola High School last month with summa cum laude honors and ended their high school careers with 4.0 GPAs. While this accomplishment is no easy feat, Cathey insists their success was not instantaneous.
Early academic preparation had daughter Sydney reading at the age of four, which Cathey says spurred her sons to follow suit.
"They just got better and better each year. Because we started with them so young it was just kind of second nature for them," Cathey said of the rising college freshmen. "We taught them to work hard and do their best."
While it could be easy for sibling rivalry to appear amongst triplets, their mother describes their relationship with each other as "genuine" and "caring", a tight knit group happy for each other's successes.
Photos: McDonough triplets graduate with highest honors
Kendall is pursuing a career in business administration at Gordon State College, while Sydney and Kolby will be attending Georgia State University to study nursing and business administration. When asked what to credit their success to, Cathey points to the educators that helped them along the way.
"They were just a joy to have in the class," said Felicia Courtland, English teacher at Creekside Christian Academy. "I just knew that they would be successful."
The constant encouragement from teachers and the community did not go unnoticed by the Belchers, and is the reason behind Cathey's push for her children to become involved in community service.
"We didn't just raise them on our own. We’ve had other people help. We taught them to always give back because others gave back to you," Cathey said.
