As this years’ class of 2015 graduates, the new Staples alumni are all moving on to try and face the world on their own for the first time.

However, while most graduates will take with them printed pictures of friends and family from prom or graduation and t-shirts from Staples homecomings and teams to remind them of home, some will have something else, as they are attending college with their older siblings.

Megan Nuzzo ’15, who will be attending the University of South Carolina with her older sister next year, believes her sister attending the school definitely influenced her decision. “College is such a huge transition, so I think it’ll be really nice to know that I have my sister there as a comfort and a little piece of home,” Nuzzo said.

While Nuzzo’s sister attending the same college was a definite influence for her, others find the simultaneous college attendance of a sibling to be less important. Sean Clarke ’15 will be attending Washington University in St. Louis with two of his brothers next year; however for him, sharing the college campus with his brothers wasn’t an important factor .

“It’s definitely nice they’re there but, when I visited, I really loved the school and thought it would be a great fit for me,” Clarke said.

All the seniors agree that while they’d like to maintain a relationship with their siblings, they also want to have independent lives.

“I definitely envision spending a lot of time with my sister but also having my own separate life and feeling like she’s not there with me,” Nicole Williams ’15, who is attending University of Connecticut next year with her older sister Danielle, said.

“At Staples we were in the same building, and there are about 1500 kids that you’ve grown up with,” Clark said. “But at Wash U there’s about 7000 undergraduate students and a much larger campus with people who all don’t know that I have siblings at the school, so it will be a pretty different experience.”

While siblings attending the same college may be coincidental, they will always share a pride and an excitement for a place where they will spend their next four years.

“It’ll be great to have someone from home with me so far away, “ Emily Nuzzo ’13, Megan’s sister who also attends the University of South Carolina, said. “Plus I get to share something I love (my school) with someone I care so much about (my sister).”