Forrest Garrison and Jessica Garrison, two of Colorado's first set of quadruplets, will graduate from college May 10.
Forrest Garrison will receive a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Jessica Garrison will receive a bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Colorado State University's College of Business.
Born Nov. 7, 1979, in Denver's Saint Joseph Hospital, the Garrison quadruplets came into the world about 30 seconds apart, said Forrest Garrison, who was born second. Brittany came first, followed by Forrest, then Emily and Jessica. And as the first set of quadruplets born in Colorado, their birth was anything but private.
"My mom told me that we caused quite a stir," Forrest Garrison said. "I guess there were quite a few reporters there," he said.
Growing up, the quadruplets had plenty of room to maneuver. The family home in Littleton was on seven acres of land that included large fields.
"We had quite a few animals, and a lot of space to play," Forrest Garrison said. "I've always loved motorcycles, so we all would ride them around," he said. "It was a great place to have friends over."
As the only boy in the family, Forrest got his sisters interested in some of his favorite pursuits, such as camping and riding motorcycles.
"I also learned a lot about girls, what they like and don't like, so that definitely helped me," he said.
Throughout their grade school and middle school years, the quadruplets were placed in separate classes, but remained close. High school was especially tough, Forrest said, because he and his sisters were trying to find out who they were individually.
After graduating from Littleton High School, the Garrisons went out into the world separately to find their niches.
Forrest, who wanted to major in architecture, went to CU-Boulder, while Jessica and Brittany went to Colorado State and Emily went to work. Jessica Garrison will receive her degree in computer information systems and plans to work in the technology industry. Brittany is majoring in speech communication and plans to graduate in December 2002.
Much of the last semester, Forrest has been working to complete a project for one of his architecture courses that involves designing an environmentally friendly building for the World Trade Center site. One other section of the class at CU-Boulder also is working on the project, and at the end of the semester, four of the student projects will be presented to Rebuild Downtown Our Town, or R.Dot, a redevelopment group based in New York that is gathering ideas for the site.
While there are many groups, including other universities, working to figure out how best to rebuild Lower Manhattan, Forrest said it has been a great learning experience and one that will always stay with him.
"Being able to complete this project is really the highlight of my time at CU," he said.
For more information or to reach Forrest Garrison or Jessica Garrison, call Greg Swenson in the office of news services at CU-Boulder at (303) 492-3113, or Jennifer Dimas in the media and community relations office at Colorado State University at (970) 491-1543.