Story: Phillip Tutor | Photo: Betsy Compton
Gordo High School graduates have brought their family togetherness to Livingston
As his sisters traded catty one-liners meant to get under his skin, Trace Crews glanced their way, to his left and his right, and chuckled as if it were no big deal. He鈥檇 heard their spiels before.
鈥淲e’re very boring,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don’t know what’s so intriguing about us.鈥�
Which isn鈥檛 altogether true. Trace does know why so many people at the baby直播 are interested in his sisters, Makenna Crews and Jadyn Crews, and him.
They鈥檙e triplets.
鈥淚 know you don鈥檛 see triplets every day, but other than that, I don鈥檛 get it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 get what the big deal is.鈥�
The big deal isn鈥檛 triplet rarity. Instead, it鈥檚 that the connective tissue that binds these first-year UWA students is as persistent in Livingston as it was in Pickens County, where they graduated from Gordo High School. Trace, Makenna and Jadyn are as much a collective as they are individuals. They wouldn鈥檛 have it any other way.
The Crews triplets live in Gilbert Hall.
Makenna shares a dormitory room with Jadyn.
鈥淚 didn’t want to live with a random person,鈥� Jadyn said.
Trace lives across the hall. His roommate is Collin Smith, Jadyn鈥檚 boyfriend.
鈥淵eah, we鈥檙e polar opposites, but we get along,鈥� Trace said.
The proximity isn鈥檛 by chance. 鈥淲e picked rooms across from each other,鈥� Jadyn said.
But, why?
Trace, smirking, explained.
鈥淚 have to protect them,鈥� he said, a sentiment that doesn鈥檛 surprise their mom, Shanie Crews. 鈥淭race, he takes care of everybody,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e wants to know everything that’s going on.鈥�
This is what happens when someone asks them about their class schedules. The responses come rapid fire, a crash course in listening skills.
Trace: 鈥淚鈥檓 with her (Makenna) in science.鈥�
Makenna: 鈥淚鈥檓 with her (Jadyn) in math.鈥�
Makenna, glancing at Jadyn: 鈥淭hen I have one with her boyfriend. I have only one class (where) I鈥檓 not with any of them.鈥�
Jadyn: 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have somebody to talk to.鈥�
Trace, glancing at Jadyn: 鈥淪he won鈥檛 just talk to a stranger. But now, I can make a friend with a brick. It doesn鈥檛 matter to me.鈥�
It took the triplets a day at UWA to become temporarily famous thanks to a UWA TikTok video of impromptu interviews with parents of freshmen. Shot on move-in day at Gilbert Hall, the video featured UWA students and their family members schlepping suitcases and dorm furnishings in the August heat. By chance, Trace had a starring role, as did their mom.
鈥淢y first class, I went to public speaking and I introduced myself, and my teacher said, 鈥極h, yeah, he’s a triplet,鈥欌�� Trace said. baby直播 have stopped him on campus and in hallways. He鈥檚 a TikTok triplet, they say. 鈥淚 don’t know who they are, but they know who I am,鈥� he said.
鈥業t鈥檚 always been the three of them鈥�
If it sounds as if Trace, Makenna and Jadyn finish each other鈥檚 sentences, as if they communicate in glances and gestures indecipherable to others, it鈥檚 because they do. Strangers don鈥檛 talk with them; they jump into a conversation circle that鈥檚 friendly and welcoming and yet dizzyingly swift, a captivating example of siblings who鈥檝e spent almost no significant amount of time apart — ever.
The triplets were born Aug. 27, 2004, at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. Trace came first, at 2:59 p.m. Makenna, the middle child, came next at 3:02. Jadyn, the youngest, appeared at 3:05. Shanie knew she was having triplets, though Makenna鈥檚 telling of that family story is more flavorful: When informed there were three babies, Shanie told her doctor 鈥渢o quit looking because she didn’t want to know that there were more if there were any more.鈥� Triplet births occur once in every 10,000 pregnancies, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Identical triplet births are much rarer.
Not once have the Crews girls been apart on their birthday. Trace has missed only one of their combined celebrations, thanks to tonsil surgery and a potential COVID-19 exposure among them. As they aged, they each got their own birthday cake. They鈥檙e unanimously glad that they鈥檙e not identical twins. Makenna and Jadyn share their mom鈥檚 red hair; Trace gets his curly brown hair from their dad, he said. They grew up together, graduated in the same high school class, enrolled together in the same incoming class at UWA, live within earshot in the same dorm, and Shanie isn鈥檛 surprised by any of it. That鈥檚 just who they are.
鈥淚t鈥檚 because it’s always been the three of them, and everybody just looks at them as one,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey’ve always been the kind that if they were separated, they worried about the other ones.鈥�
Choosing majors at UWA
If there鈥檚 a surprise in their path from Gordo to Livingston, it鈥檚 that it didn鈥檛 happen in habitual lockstep. Through a program with the Pickens County College & Career Center, Trace had worked as a teacher鈥檚 aide for second- and fifth-grade classes and earned college credit hours. Enrolling in UWA鈥檚 College of Education — as a sophomore — made sense. His goal is to become a middle-school teacher.
Makenna wasn鈥檛 initially swayed by her brother鈥檚 decision and planned to attend cosmetology school in Tuscaloosa, she said. But a campus visit introduced her to UWA鈥檚 Integrated Marketing Communications major, and she was so enamored that she joined her brother at UWA.
Jadyn was the wild card. She 鈥渒new what she wanted to do, but she didn’t want to go to UWA with Trace,鈥� their mom said. The youngest Crews triplet was a potential outlier in the constant togetherness. 鈥淥ut of any of us, she’d be the one that would rather be on her own,鈥� Makenna said. Jadyn doesn鈥檛 disagree. 鈥淵eah, I didn’t have to be around around them,鈥� she said. But she loves the beach and the sea and dreams of becoming a marine biologist. When she learned about UWA鈥檚 marine biology major and its field work in marine habitats, there was no need to follow a different path than her siblings. The thought of combining education with summer trips to Dauphin Island became a major selling point.
Three it would be, again.
Whether it will remain that way after their time at UWA is complete is an unknown, even to them. Life is hard to predict. Shanie admits that Jadyn鈥檚 career plans mean 鈥渟he’s probably going to be the one to have to move off somewhere.鈥� If you ask the triplets if they鈥檒l always be within arm鈥檚 length, siblings living just around the bend from each other, the conversation circle begins again.
Makenna: 鈥淒o you think we will?鈥�
Trace: 鈥淚 think we will.鈥�
Mackenna, to Jadyn: 鈥淚 could see you just growing up and being like, 鈥榊eah, I don鈥檛 know them.鈥欌��
Trace, the oldest, looks up and smiles.
鈥淚 mean, it was never a dull moment with us,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd you always have a friend.鈥�