All in the Family

Not only did the Martin brothers succeed—they soared. The triplets finished high school at the top of their class. Then, they followed their older brother Ivan to Jackson State University, where Kenya and Warren graduated as valedictorians and Deshon finished with a 3.9 grade point average.

After college, the triplets went on to graduate from the School of Law at the University of Mississippi. Now, at 28 years old, they are practicing attorneys in their home state.

All of Elinder's hard work has paid off. Her five sons are all college graduates. What's her parenting secret? "A lot of praying," she says. "As the boys said, I integrated church, school and home. Home first. School second. And then church. … I lived it, demonstrated it [and] modeled it."

Ivan, the oldest Martin son, says he tried to set a positive example for his brothers after their father passed away. "Ivan and [our other brother] were more so like father figures than brothers," Kenya says.

Now, the Martin triplets are setting an example for future generations. When they graduated from law school, they pledged to donate $1 million to their alma mater, Jackson State University. This money will be used to establish educational scholarships for incoming students.

"You've proven what can be done," Oprah tells the Martin family.