Sixteen years after Larry Laughlin was named the senior instructor at South Aiken High School's Naval Junior ROTC unit, cadets, parents and other friends honored him last week in advance of his upcoming retirement.
The cadets cheered him, poked fun at him and in a video and at the microphone, the seniors expressed their admiration and love for him and the difference he made. Caught by surprise, Laughlin had to stand at the back of the school cafeteria, trying to avoid tears.
"It's very hard to go," Laughlin said later. "When you do something like this over the last 16 years, time just flies. It will be 16 years of precious memories."
The student commanding officer, Daneshka Prado-Perez, can identify with her commander. She moved to Aiken as a sophomore, and after rising through the ranks, Prado-Perez is also leaving a program that has meant so much to her. Though she's grateful that she is graduating at the same with Laughlin's retirement, "It's really sad too, because when I come back, he won't be there to come back to. But it was a fantastic year," Prado-Perez said, "and I wouldn't change it for anything."
At South Aiken's Veterans Day program last fall and to her amazement, Prado-Perez was recognized as a winner of the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross Award. Less than 20 NJROTC cadets are chosen nationally on an annual basis for this prestigious achievement. It's astonishing that Prado-Perez is the 11th Legion of Valor winner during Laughlin's 16-year service at South Aiken - included recipients the last nine years.
The others are: Jenny Fauth (2000), Kristen Gore (2004), Kaitlyn Henderson (2006), Andrew Radford (2007), Ryan Wisz (2008), Matty Velie (2008), Cody Wilkins (2010), Matt Bauerlin (2011), Grace Thompson (2012) and Hayley Neiling (2013). They would go on to receive Naval Academy appointments, ROTC scholarships or scholarships to other four-year colleges.
With the encouragement of Laughlin, his cadets have gotten involved with many community endeavors - among them Relay of Life.
Their willingness to help is meaningful to Laughlin, a survivor himself. While many people applaud his work at South Aiken, they and many others may not fully realize Laughlin's contributions to the country in his earlier life. A Naval Academy graduate, he went on to a long career in increasing responsibility - among them a key administrative role at the academy, while also teaching a Naval leadership course there.
Laughlin had long known about NJROTC, having joined a unit while growing up in Pasadena, Texas. In 1999, good fortune emerged - not just for him, but for the hundreds of students that would benefit. He happened to meet then-principal Bill Gassman at a conference. Laughlin later called about the job, and Gassman offered him the position that day.
"It's such a blessing for an instructor who stays for any length of time and hear about these graduates and others about what they've accomplished," Laughlin said.
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since September 2001. He is a native of Walterboro and majored in journalism at the University of Georgia.