The Palma quadruplets have spent nearly their entire lives side by side — from preschool classrooms and high school hallways to the UMass Lowell campus.

At UML’s 2026 Commencement, siblings Jaden, Jahir, Jerenny and Johan Palma completed their academic journeys together.

“I think the job is done, and we’re so proud of them,” says their mother, Iris, who along with their father, Wagner, watched all four children earn their degrees on the same day at the Tsongas Center. 

Jaden (civil engineering) and Jerenny (public health) graduated in the morning ceremony, while Jahir (political science) and Johan (business) walked in the afternoon ceremony.

Three of the siblings enrolled at UML as freshmen, while Jerenny initially attended UMass Amherst before transferring after her first year.

“I wanted to try doing something on my own,” Jerenny says. “But being a new student and being away, it was just too much for me to handle. So it was kind of a no-brainer to come back home and be somewhere that felt safer.”

As first-generation college students, the quadruplets say staying together at UMass Lowell made the transition to college easier while also helping the family manage costs. As commuter students who carpooled from home in Methuen, they remained closely connected throughout college despite studying in different fields and spending time on different parts of campus.

“Every second we weren’t in class, we were with each other,” Jahir says. “We were texting each other asking where we were so we could meet up.”

Jahir says the support of their parents, who immigrated to the United States from Guatemala, was key to all four siblings reaching Commencement day together. Their older sister, Mariah, is a UMass Boston alum.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for our parents to have five kids and all of them get through high school and college,” says Jahir, who plans to attend law school and hopes to become a public defender.

Jaden says attending an ABET-accredited engineering school at an affordable university that’s close to home made UML an easy decision.

“It’s not cheap to send four kids to school at the same time. We didn’t want to place any more of a burden onto our parents in terms of pursuing our education,” says Jaden, who hopes to work in transportation infrastructure and urban planning.

With their grandmother, Braulia Rivera, traveling from Guatemala and other relatives coming from across the country for Commencement, Johan says the day felt especially meaningful.

“Seeing all these people gather around just to see us celebrate this grand moment is amazing,” says Johan, who is exploring careers in accounting and government service, including potentially working for the IRS.

Jerenny says her experiences at UMass Lowell, including an internship at Lowell Community Health Center, inspired her interest in community-based public health work.

“I would love to help women of color and the LGBTQ-plus community,” she says. “I want something in my career where I can be proud of helping the community that I grew up with.”

For Jerenny, the quadruplets’ accomplishment set in when she watched her brothers cross the Commencement stage.

“It honestly made me pretty teary-eyed,” she says. “We were together in preschool, grade school, middle school, high school — and now we’re graduating together.”

Their parents say the siblings constantly motivated one another throughout the years.

“If one was falling a little behind, then the other one would be there to push them over,” Wagner says. “The ride was hard, but it was worth it.”

Now, for the first time in their lives, the quadruplets are preparing to follow separate professional paths. But their bond remains unchanged.

“At least for now, we all still show up at the same house,” Johan says. “We always have home.”