You only need to spend about 30 seconds with this year’s Carolina Band drum majors to get a sense of their joyful devotion to their marching band, the music and each other. South Carolina Honors College students Kylie Dolbier, Rachel Kirk and Kelley Powell are the first all-female group of drum majors at the University of South Carolina in almost 20 years, and the dynamic trio brought unrivaled energy and passionate leadership to the field as they helmed one of the best marching bands in the country.

On paper, you might think they’re the same person. All three women have been part of the Carolina Band since their freshman year. Each is a thriving student in the South Carolina Honors College. And each is majoring in music education. But that only explains part of the obvious chemistry between them.

Dig deeper, and you learn more.

If you ask them about women in music, they’ll immediately launch into a passionate explanation of why there should be more women in leadership positions in the music world. Stand back and watch them at band rehearsal, and you’ll see each of them taking every spare moment to help a fellow band member, provide guidance on a tricky part of choreography or simply keep everyone else in line. And they obviously know how to make each other laugh.

Dolbier, Kirk and Powell have combined their extraordinary talents, intelligence and passion to create something very special. Looks like great things really do come in threes.