Four In Four – Quadruplets Enter Senior Year At Texas A&M

The Thompson quadruplets are entering their senior year at Texas A&M University, where the 21-year-old Stephenville natives are experiencing such milestones in their lives as getting their coveted Aggie senior rings and preparing for graduation next spring.

Their majors are agricultural leadership and development (Patrick), agricultural economics (Daniel and Reagan) and communications (Kayla). The boys all share a house and Kayla lives in a house with four female students. All four have said it has been a blessing to have their siblings on campus, so they always have someone to call on. Their mother concurs.

Each Thompson has always had a built-in cheering section of at least three for all their accomplishments, and as they enter their senior year at Texas A&M, the opportunities for encouragement continue to multiply. Three of the quadruplets received their rings on Sept. 18, and Patrick will receive his later in the semester. Credit hours from a summer internship weren’t calculated early enough to allow him to get his ring this week. “It’s OK,” Patrick says. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this, so I’ll be able to wait two more months.”

Solid course loads and a steady academic focus throughout the year have brought them to this point, the final stretch of their undergraduate paths, Patrick explains.

“I have to give a lot of credit to our mom, who has been incredible with our scheduling and has really pushed us to take summer courses and internships,” he says. “One summer we all took 13 hours. It was a big load at the time but looking back now, it was well worth it.”

In high school, all four excelled in academics and student government and played competitive soccer. Reagan and Patrick also played varsity football.

At Texas A&M, the brothers all have played some intramural sports together and all four have attended at least one event of every spectator sport on campus.

Reagan is now a yell leader, so every major event is guaranteed attendance from at least one family member. His siblings are represented, as well, with their initials – PT, JT and KT – on the back of his yell leader overalls.

Having their siblings at the same school has meant additional friends for each of them. “The campus is so big, but everywhere you go you see someone you know,” says Kayla. “And we get to meet three times the people because we all make friends along the way. It’s like having a built-in support system – an Aggie network times four.”

The quadruplets were destined to become Aggies from the time they were infants swaddled in maroon. Their father, Erath County Judge Tab Thompson, graduated in 1978 and their mother Debbie also attended Texas A&M.

“There were other options, but there was no other choice than A&M,” Reagan has said. “There’s no place like this. Once you’re here, you’re part of something.”

When the quadruplets took a business management course together last year, it was believed to have been a “first” for quadruplets on the campus and rare, if not unprecedented, in higher education. The students were determined to learn management techniques from Ben Welch, an award-winning professor and director of the Center for Executive Development at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School. They met Welch when their dad took a course from him while they were still in high school.

Welch has high praise for his easily recognizable students, whom he also sees sometimes at church.

“They are just always so positive and smiling, they are a joy to be around,” he says. “When they were in my class, they sat right up front and always paid attention. That’s their gift, that they pay attention to everyone they encounter.”