A Big Milestone for World's First Surviving Septuplets

Iowa's McCaughey siblings just graduated from high school
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2016 12:29 PM CDT
A Big Milestone for World's First Surviving Septuplets
In this photo from Sunday, the McCaughey septuplets, the world's first surviving septuplets, from left, Nathan, Kenny Jr., Joel, Alexis (front), Principal Matthew Blackstone, Brandon, Kelsey, and Natalie, pose for a picture after graduating from Carlisle High School in Carlisle, Iowa.   (Rachel Mummey/The Des Moines Register via AP)

Alexis, Brandon, Joel, Kelsey, Kenny Jr., Natalie, and Nathan have graduated from high school, NPR reports. If their first names don't ring a bell, perhaps their last name will: They're the McCaughey kids, the world's first known set of surviving septuplets, and they accepted their diplomas from Carlisle High School on Sunday, per the Des Moines Register. The septuplets made international headlines when they were born on Nov. 19, 1997, not only because of their number, but because their mom, Bobbi, had taken fertility drugs to help conceive and then refused to abort any of the fetuses to help boost survival chances for the others.

"God gave us those kids," dad Kenny McCaughey said at the time, per the New York Times. "He wants us to raise them." The siblings, who also have a 20-year-old sister, Mikayla, all plan to head in different directions, with some attending college, some joining the military, and others going straight to the 9-to-5, KCCI reports. (The Register has a photo gallery showing the McCaughey clan "from diapers to diplomas," as well as a timeline of their family life through the years.)

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