It’s stressful enough for parents to teach just one kid to drive. Multiply that by four? And meet the Eastmans.
Caroline, Ellie, Luke and Wilson Eastman are a set of 15-year-old quadruplets who attend Hickman High School.
All four are multi-sport athletes, and they’re an extremely competitive bunch. But when you add the fact that they can’t yet drive on their own, arranging rides to practices and games becomes, at minimum, complicated.
Their mom, Kristin Eastman, sends out a daily schedule in a family group chat to arrange pickups. Then, the four take turns getting their driving practice.
“I think without our parents, it would be so hard to organize ourselves,” Caroline said. “I honestly don’t know what we’d do without them.”
Only one in approximately 700,000 natural pregnancies results in the birth of quadruplets, according to a Stanford Medicine article. That rarity is not lost on the Eastman kids.
“We know twins and triplets, but four is just so unique,” Caroline said. “And so it’s kind of cool when you tell people because their eyes get big.”
When they were younger, the two girls, Caroline and Ellie, were often confused for each other, but as they got older, their appearances began to diverge.
“A lot of people, when I talk, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, you act just like Ellie,’” Caroline said.
The brothers, Luke and Wilson, were never really met with the same confusion — and you can see why. Wilson is taller and has lighter hair compared to Luke.
The Eastmans are now sophomores at Hickman, and all four have never been in the same class together. In fact, it wasn’t until middle school that any of them shared a class.
Before that, they were all individually separated. Their dad, Stuart Eastman, said their elementary school preferred not to put twins in the same class so the kids could grow and learn on their own.
The girls have similar friends, and the boys have similar friends, but their circles don’t overlap entirely. Their individual sports have led to some extra branching out, Luke said, even though some people still see them as one unit.
Caroline plays basketball and volleyball. Ellie swims, runs cross country, does track and is the manager for her sister’s basketball team.
Wilson swims, plays basketball and golf, and Luke runs cross country and plays baseball.
The common thread among them within their sports is the strong competitive drive that manifests itself during, and even after, games.
“If it doesn’t go their way and they’re upset, they might come home and, for instance, Caroline might go shoot some more baskets. Or Luke might go hit the ball off the tee,” their father said.
They also put in extra work outside of practice, whether it’s Luke going to a pitching coach, Wilson going to a golf coach, Ellie doing additional running or Caroline working with a trainer for basketball.
The competitiveness they demonstrate in their sports extends into the classroom. They treat school as a contest to see who among the four can get the highest grades.
“It’s always been like that,” Wilson said. “We’re competitive in pretty much everything we do as a unit.”
They say having three siblings in the same grade helps a lot when they need to make up schoolwork. If one is sick, they will email a teacher to share the missed assignments with a sibling.
Even if they’re not all in the same classes together, teachers either have one of them or know about them.
A 2012 article in a Boone Hospital newsletter when they were 5 years old described Ellie and Luke as “high-energy children who thrive in environments where they can be around other kids,” whereas Wilson and Caroline are “more independent” and prefer to spend time alone.
More than a decade later, these character descriptions of the four as preschoolers have held up as teenagers.
Caroline is the most independent of the group, Luke said.
“She will kind of disappear for a little bit,” Wilson said, but she’s still “very outgoing.”
She doesn’t like to ask for help, but she’s willing to give it, Ellie said. That’s another benefit of having four kids in the same grade — there are plenty of options for help on math homework.
Wilson can provide some of that homework help, too. As the eldest by two minutes, he has assumed the role of “big brother” to the other three, and they look to him for the kind of support usually expected of that role.
“I think of him as our protector,” Caroline said. “He’s always constantly looking out for us.”
Ellie is admired for her determination and organization, according to her sister.
“She’s kind of the mom of all four of us,” Luke said. “If we’re home alone, she makes sure that everyone gets everything done. She cooks dinner sometimes.”
Luke has earned the reputation of the funny one. He and Caroline are in the same study hall, which can make it hard for her to get work done with all the jokes he cracks.
“He can always bring a smile out of everyone,” she said.
Though life as a quadruplet can be hectic, the Eastmans wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You always had a friend to hang out with,” Luke said. “And sometimes it’d be chaotic. But at the end of the day, it was always super fun.”