Famous as high-achieving quads, Nick, Aaron, Nigel and Zachary Wade used Yale as a springboard to individually define themselves further, said their mother, Kim Wade.
The recent Yale commencement ceremony and their family celebration still has Wade, a principal at Lakota’s Plains Junior School, and her husband, Darrin, beaming with pride.
“We’re overjoyed,” she said. “They stayed focused and they met their goals and we feel proud they accomplished what they set out to accomplish. As a parent that is what you wish and hope for and they are there.”
Graduation is delayed a bit for Aaron, who is a computer science major now studying overseas. A few remaining classes were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but he is scheduled to graduate in the fall.
Nick majored in political science and Arabic languages and will soon start work for Goldman Sachs in its New York City office.
Nigel is headed to medical school, and Zachery, who majored in chemical engineering, will soon join Goldman Sachs in San Francisco.
And as in 2017 when they were wooed with scholarship offers from Yale and other Ivy League universities, the world is taking notice as the four brothers are again being featured in national magazines such as People and appearing on local and national TV shows.
Though all four choose to attend Yale, upon moving to the school’s New Haven, Connecticut campus their paths rarely crossed during their four years of college.
“They wanted to be in individuals,” Kim Wade said. “They did not want to be the Wade brothers or the Wade quads and things like that. They wanted people to know them for them.
“But I think they found comfort in knowing that even though I’m not seeing my brother every day or we are not living together, they are not far away so if I need them they can call them and they will be there.”
Nick Wade said his mother’s assessment is spot on.
“It’s kind of crazy but I saw my friends more than I saw my brothers at Yale,” said Wade, who now lives in Jersey City near New York City. “We didn’t live together but we saw each about three times a month our freshman and sophomore years. By our junior and senior years we’d see each other weekly.
“We would see each other from across the street around campus and we would yell to each other and get excited when we’d see each other in public.”
Kim Wade said graduating from Yale is a big finish line for her four boys and her.
“You’re proud and excited but you can also breathe a little bit too and you say: ‘You know they’re going to be OK,” she said.
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