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Three is a lucky number. And the Class of Spring 2025 will be seeing triple at their commencement. During the first of April 26’s three ceremonies, three identical brothers will walk across the stage in honor of their three degrees.

Ali, Elias and Hadi Elzein, born in that order and studying economics, accounting and finance, and biology, respectively, do everything together — and graduation day won’t be different. “I finished last semester, but delayed my graduation so I could walk with my brothers,” Hadi says. “We have a story of family, of love forged through challenge. As brothers, we chose to walk together every step of the way.”

That’s not the only celebration day for the Elzein brothers this month. Today, April 10, is National Siblings Day. Hadi says National Siblings Day could be every day for them. They have a group chat on their phone. They share a room at home. They work together at Habib’s Cuisine. “If something comes up and one of us can’t go in for a shift, we can fill in for each other,” says Hadi, a biology major who's in the process of applying for graduate school.

The brothers’ resemblance is usually the first thing that catches people’s eyes. Speaking at the Renick University Center, they wear matching black shirts. They have a rhythm between them — the way they finish each other’s thoughts, the unspoken understanding — that’s a bond built on more than shared birthdays or DNA. 

To help people tell them apart, they do things to physically distinguish themselves. Ali wears a silver necklace and Elias a silver bracelet. And when they are sitting next to each other, you can see their personality differences — Hadi laughs more, Elias chooses his words thoughtfully and Ali is very social. But when they are solo, that’s when the mistakes happen. “People will come up to me thinking that I was one of my brothers. I don’t mind that,” Hadi says. “When it happens to me on campus, it’s a good way to make new friends.”

Chatting in the RUC, they chime in to complete each other’s thoughts. They joke around. And they talk about the future. “No one can tell the future, but I do know that we will always be there for each other in this next part of our lives,” says Elias, who is a Class of Spring 2025 Dean’s Medallion awardee from the College of Business. Through the university’s , he’ll earn a graduate degree with one more year of college.

When it comes to their closeness, the brothers say there’s a natural bond that comes from being a multiple. But their loyalty to one another goes beyond that — it was forged by persevering through life-changing events.

Born in the United States, the triplets went to Lebanon to visit family for a summer when they were six. While there, their father, Hussein, was admitted to a hospital with a sudden illness and fell into a coma. During the next seven years, they lived with family in Lebanon in hopes of their father’s recovery.

“Our mom would be up early to see us off to school and then would go to the hospital in Beirut to take care of our father the best that she could. She showed us what unconditional love looks like,”  says Ali, an economics major who is in the process of lining up a full-time job in the mortgage business. “He was in a coma for a long time. For seven years, we hoped he would wake up and come home. He was our father and our sense of security. Then, when we were 13, there was a new feeling each of us had. The fear left. When we were ready to accept any outcome, he passed away. Our father held on until we were in a place where we were ready to accept it.” 

It was a painful moment, but not a defining one, Hadi adds. “His absence became the space in which we learned to rely on each other and on ourselves. The experience didn’t harden us — it united us,” he says.

All three brothers say that their father continues to guide their future, even a decade after his passing. “People come up to us and ask if we are Hussein’s sons,” Ali says. “We continue to have people recognize us because of how loyal of a friend our father was to people in the Dearborn community. It speaks volumes on who he was as a person and it makes our hearts grow.”

Not long after their father’s passing, the boys and their mother, Zanoubia, moved back to Michigan. “Even with the financial and emotional difficulty of moving, we had family supporting us every step of the way,” Elias says. “Just like our family in Lebanon supported us while we were there, we had uncles in Dearborn help us get on our feet so we could hit the ground running.” 

The triplets enrolled at Dearborn High School. “People were really nice and thought it was interesting that there were three of us, but it was still hard,” says Ali. “We were born in the U.S., but our memories were of Lebanon. We spoke English, but grew up with a different cultural background. We also had to build from the ground up when we came back. We had a roof over our heads, but it was tough financially. But that was a good thing to experience early too — it showed us that material things are nice, but not essential. What’s most important is family and how it is important to come together to help each other out.”

The brothers, who attended UM-Dearborn with the Go Blue Guarantee scholarship, pooled resources during their four years of college. For example, they saved up money right before their first year and bought a 2011 Buick LaCrosse, which they still use today. Sometimes sharing a car would mean they’d be on campus all day waiting for each other — but, when possible, they coordinated their class schedules. They also had to factor in Hadi’s cell biology research time with Associate Professor of Biology Kalyan Kondapalli, Elias’ Beta Alpha Psi fraternity meetings, Ali’s job shadowing at a law firm and more. Elias says a lot of planning, in addition to online and hybrid classes, made the situation work.

Not too long ago —  to accommodate their increasingly busy schedules and because they’ll be on different paths after graduation — they purchased a second car to share. But even when life will lead them down different roads, they know they’ll always find ways to come back together. “We have been through things together that make our bond strong. Distance or busy schedules can’t weaken that,” Elias says. Ali adds, “We might irritate each other at times, but I need to connect with my brothers to recharge. We need each other to push ourselves to be the best version that we can be. It’s all about family and we will continue to prioritize that — it’s just how we do it that might look a little different.”

That next step — or steps, since there’s three of them — includes work and graduate school. But first comes commencement. On April 26, when their names are called, the Elzeins will walk across the stage to uncles, cousins and friends cheering in the audience. But the brothers will focus on one person: Their mother. 

Remember the complex class schedule coordination? She’s the one who helped them do it. She cheered them on, made their favorite meals and kept things moving forward in the hardest of times. “Even with all of the challenges in our lives, our mom continued to focus on what would give us a brighter future,” Elias says. “We learned how to be responsible and reliable men from a strong woman.”

His brothers nod in agreement. As much as they are looking forward to graduating, they are even more proud to show their mom what they accomplished thanks to her.

“None of this would have happened without her. She gave everything and now it’s our turn to rise because of it and give back to her. This is not just a story about triplets graduating. It’s a story about resilience, about sacrifice, about the quiet strength that comes from real love,” Hadi says. “And most of all, it’s a story about a family that never let go of each other no matter how far life tried to stretch them.”

Story by Sarah Tuxbury