Ireland, Kala and Smith Shute have rarely been apart. That will change after commencement. It’s a bittersweet milestone in the triplets’ journey.
They did college the way they’ve always done everything: together.
They got together often for meals. Two lived in the same residence hall during their freshman year. Text threads rarely rested.
The Shute triplets, born in 2001, are completing their four-year stint at USC. Their degrees, like their personalities, are different.
For Ireland — oldest by a few minutes, it’s a psychology degree from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Kala, often the first to speak, is graduating from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a degree in communication and a minor in marketing. Smith, a certified EMT who serves as referee when his sisters argue, is graduating from USC Dornsife’s human biology (pre-med) program.
“College was our first chance to get some distance to kind of grow as individuals,” said Kala. “It’s taught us who we are, by not being compared with one another all the time. On the other hand, once we got settled in here, we kind of realized we missed being able to be with each other all the time.”