In most cases, college-bound students find themselves counting down the days, eager to leave the home nest and parents behind, to move on campus, meet new friends and get underway with studies.

Madelyn McClarey will graduate from Florida A&M University this Saturday, May 4 with a degree in English with a minor in education. Her twin sons, Aaron and Aubrey Hough, both earned scholarships to FAMU which lead McClarey to take a leave of absence from her job and come to Tallahassee to go to school with them. (Photo: Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

Parents, in the meantime, shield their anxieties and wish them well, while inwardly jumping for joy at this rite-of-passage send-off. But, in rare circumstances, there are cases like Madelyn McClarey and her twin sons’ decision to study at Florida A&M University – together.

Rather than leaving mom back in South Florida, Aaron and Aubrey Hough insisted she join them in Tallahassee.

On Saturday, they will celebrate as McClarey crosses the stage at the Lawson Center, graduating with a degree in English from Florida A&M.

For the single mom, it represents a finish line that she’s been edging toward since completing business school in Staten Island, then returning to South Florida following a divorce, holding down full-time jobs, volunteering in her sons’ schools and traveling with them as a band parent.

But what landed her at FAMU was the opportunity presented to her twins, Aubrey, a music business major who will be graduating this fall, and Aaron, who is earning a specialized degree in music composition and expects to graduate in the summer or fall 2020.

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