Ah, siblings. They can be our best friends or our worst enemies — sometimes both! — over the course of a lifetime. Either way, they present us with our very first lessons in competition, cooperation, and caring.
Plenty of Lehigh alumni have made their college experience a family affair. In honor of National Siblings Day on April 10, here are a few of them.
Jay ’89 and Neil Canell ’89 are identical twins who came to Lehigh together to play lacrosse and major in international relations. And while they didn’t room together, they did live in the same dorm freshman year (Dravo) and pledged the same fraternity (Alpha Chi Rho).
The funniest thing that ever happened during their time at Lehigh, Jay says, involved a case of mistaken identity. “Many of our teachers were unaware that Neil and I are identical twins. After class one day, my teacher asked me if I was angry with him. He said he’d seen me at the basketball game the night before, and I’d walked right past him without saying hello. Turns out it was my twin brother at the game — I had to bring Neil into class the next week to prove I was telling the truth!”
College in Triplicate
Katie ’22, Kevin ’22 ’23G and Shaun McNulty ’22 are triplets, but they didn’t all decide to attend Lehigh at the same time. “Our parents worked with each of us to talk through what we wanted out of college and where would be best to go. Turns out that was Lehigh. But we knew that, with different majors and interests, we would all have our own unique experiences,” Shaun says.
Katie majored in journalism and marketing, Kevin focused on political science and then earned a master’s in public policy, and Shaun chose international relations and theatre. And while the three saw each other on campus occasionally, they didn’t feel like they were encroaching on each other’s spaces.
“We made time to see each other, meeting for dinner or to take a walk and catch up,” Shaun says. “Most people never guessed that we’re related because we don’t look alike, and our personalities are different.”
One of the McNultys’ funniest moments occurred freshman year. All three lived in M&M on different floors and wings, so not many people knew they were related. Kevin, a redhead, roomed with a friend from his hometown who also had red hair. Since the nametags on their door listed first names and hometowns, people assumed the two were brothers.
“One night walking back from class, I saw my brother with some friends and stopped to say hi,” Shaun says. “Another mutual friend saw us talking and said, ‘Do you guys know each other? Did you know you have the same last name?’ So we got to tell her that we did in fact know each other and were brothers.”
Shaun’s favorite memory is of graduation when the triplets made it a point to sit together during the ceremony. “We crossed the stage one after another,” Shaun says. “In a way, we were leaving Lehigh the same way we came in — together.”
A Family Affair
Cameron Laukaitis ’23 ’24G blazed the trail to Lehigh that her brother RJ ’26 would follow. “He’d been to Lehigh to visit a lot with my parents my freshman year, so he got a sense of the campus,” Cameron says. “I was able to take him with me to a class and to hang out with my friends. I showed him what life at Lehigh would be like and I think he appreciated it — it was something he didn’t get to experience at other schools.”
The sister and brother see each other quite a lot, both around campus and when they make Target runs just to spend time together. Cameron earned her bachelor’s in biology and is working toward a Master of Engineering in technical entrepreneurship, while RJ majors in computer science and business.
“Our parents come to visit during Family Weekend, and it’s nice that we can spend the whole weekend together as a family,” Cameron says. The siblings also enjoy hearing about how the campus has changed from their father, Matthew ’90 ’23P ’26P.
Cameron’s favorite memory of being a big sister at Lehigh comes from RJ’s freshman year when “he would guest-swipe me into the dining halls so we could eat lunch together. I would make him use his swipes to buy me food at The Grind or Hawk’s Nest, which sounds bad,” she laughs, “but it was always fun to have an excuse to see each other.”
