From left: Colleen, Cadine and Colliette Bramwell, triplets attending Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High School, impress their teachers with their brilliance. If they continue with their excellent performance, they should do very well in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

IMAGINE HAVING the same three faces in your class and not being able to figure out who is who.

Well, that's the situation in one grade-nine class at Tivoli Comprehensive High School in Kingston, where triplets Colliette, Cadine and Colleen Bramwell are all students.

Charles and Pauline Bramwell were expecting twins, but they received the shock of their lives during delivery when a third child popped up.

"It's nice being triplets because at least we can play tricks on people," Cadine told The Gleaner during a visit to the school yesterday.

Carol Ross-McLeod, teacher of the triplets, described them as consistent and frank students.

"They are honest without being rude. If they are displeased about something, they will say it," Ross-McLeod said.

She added: "Some children, you teach them because you have to, but it is a pleasure teaching these girls."

Last term, the girls were ranked second, third and fourth in their class, based on their performances in the school's internal examination.

She noted that the girls, who will turn 15 in July, are obedient and do not break the rules of the school.

"They are proper and poised. You wouldn't mind them being your daughters," said Ross-McLeod.

Very alike

While one would have expected that the girls would study together at home, they say that is not possible.

"When we get together in a group, all we do is talk and laugh, so we have to study in separate areas and then we get together and discuss the topic and quiz each other," Cadine said.

The trio, who admitted that they are talkative, also revealed that they think alike and sometimes ask the same questions.

The triplets are to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate social studies examination this year.

Three's company, not a crowd, for them. They say they never get bored and they talk with each other, even at odd hours of the night.

Need to stick together

The Bramwell triplets have different career goals, but Cadine wants them all to do business. "I want all three of us to do business because it's going to feel weird not having them with me," she said.

But Colleen has her eyes set on becoming a dermatologist, while Colliette, who wants to become a relationship counsellor, plans to go on to university to do psychology.

The girls are well liked. "We get on with everybody. I don't think anybody would say they don't like the triplets," Colliette boasts.

The triplets, who hail from the inner-city community of Tivoli Gardens, say they alternate chores each week. And if they decide to cook, the roles are split among them. "So, Cadine will cut up the vegetables, Colliette knead the flour and I do something else," said Colleen.

Cadine and Colleen are right-handed, while Colliette is left-handed. Cadine, the shortest of the lot, was the first to be born, Colleen second, while Colliette, the tallest, was the last of the girls to be born.

Last December, the three decided to get baptised. "We love church very much and we got filled (with the Holy Spirit ) in November and got baptised at Pentab (Pentecostal Tabernacle) in December," Colliette shared with The Gleaner.

No special relationships

She continued: "We don't have any boyfriend and people find it strange, but I am not interested in sex and don't want to have any until I get married."

The trio loves reading. In fact, Colliette says she can read one book in a day. They also enjoy going to the beach and hotels and they love to eat. "You can't have food and tell us not to eat it," said Cadine.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com