Column: On My Watch: The Fenili Quadruplets Find Their Way In Their New World
By Anne W. Semmes
Sentinel Columnist
Four transplants from Italy to Greenwich, four sisters who celebrated their 18th birthday on the same day, have made history as the first quadruplets to graduate from Greenwich High School (GHS) on June 21. They are the Fenili’s – Aurora, Luna, Donatella and Marea, of Cos Cob.
The four took a moment before flying off to Italy to share their extraordinary witness of their first year in an American high school. They are poster students for a positive and inspiring immigrant experience.
“The best moment for me was graduation,” Aurora said, “To see everyone going out on the field with their hats and gowns, and there’s music – it looks like a movie! There’s nothing like this in Italy.”
“I loved it when everyone threw their hats into the air!” exclaimed Luna.
Another thrilling moment for all four was learning they were accepted to UCONN Stamford. “It was very liberating,” said Marea, “Now we knew where we were going.”
Their senior year at GHS was full of wonderment from day one. Donatella described that first sight of the giant Student Center. “When the bell rings all these people were moving around like ants. I thought this is great!”.
Aurora was dumbfounded by how students were dressed. “In Italy they are more discriminating about their dress. Here they can decide what they want to wear, even pajamas or sports clothes. No one cares.”
Marea recalled the moment GHS Headmaster Chris Winters shined the spotlight on them in a group of new students. “He introduced us as the first quadruplets to attend Greenwich High School,” she said. Suddenly there were student paparazzi snapping photos. “When we were walking down the hall speaking Italian, they would hover around us, curious. They saw our tattoos on our forearms (the Roman numerals IV) and thought we should be numbered, 1, 2, 3, 4.”
Self-branded as they are, these sisters maintained their close bonding through the year, even while making new friends. “When we make friends they are friends of all of us,” said Luna, “They merge with us,”.
As for boyfriends, the merging stops there. “No boyfriends yet,” they confess. But there are lots of friends who are boys. “In our classes there were more boys than girls,” they echoed.
What they valued learning most gives an impressive endorsement of what GHS offered them. For Donatella it was learning English with the help of the ESL classes. “I learned how to speak English,” she said, “I learned how to write essays.”
For Marea it was the diversity of students. “It was meeting students from other countries and learning by the end of the year we are pretty similar.” She was impressed by a whole week focusing on African-Americans. “At GHS they teach every student to respect each other,” she said, “They don’t want people to discriminate.”
The Fenili’s were also high on the senior internship opportunities offered the last month of the school year. Marea and Luna had interned with two plastic surgeons in Westchester. “On Fridays we would see operations and on Tuesdays visit patients. We saw face lifts, and knee operations,” said Luna. A takeaway was how the doctors described their craft: “They would say to us it’s like cutting and sewing- like being a stylist.”
Marea now wants to study medicine, as does Luna. They have their eyes on the University of Bologna to study medicine. “Maybe I take a masters there,” said Luna, “as its much cheaper.”
These quadruplets are enterprising for sure about their finances. It was their availability to do Italian to English translations through the GHS Student Employment Service that brought them to my attention. To earn money while in college at Stamford UConn, they have arranged their classes in the morning so they can take part time jobs in the afternoon.
But this summer its family vacation time. So off they go to Italy to their native Bologna and environs, and then this traveling family heads for the Greek island of Santorini, traveling with an extended family. But they are eager to return in late August to pick up the path to their future.
“In Italy I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Aurora. “Here I have learned about myself. Here I saw my choices. I learned I could do marketing.” And Luna is amazed, she said, “To have so many friends from different countries.”
Amazement is also expressed by the quadruplets’ mother, Evalina. “I see them so excited,” she said. “After one year they did well, even though they didn’t know the language. The girls are happy. This is an amazing place where they can be. It’s a safe place.” Yes, in fact their new hometown has just been named as one of the 100 safest towns in America.
The quadruplets were born in California, “where we had relatives and friends,” said Evalina, “but we like it better here.” Evalina, her husband Fabio and her daughters had been impressed by the message of the GHS graduation speaker, ESPN sports anchor Hannah Storm. “She said the first thing is the kids have to work hard, be confident and keep going with what they believe. This is a country that can give you a chance, that can give you results. If the girls make their game the right way, they’ll do well.”
