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Alumni Hall of Distinction at Quantico Middle/High School inducts first three members

7 Jan 2016 | Adele Uphaus-Conner Marine Corps Base Quantico

Marine Corps commandants, Navy Admirals, and CEOs are among the distinguished graduates of Quantico Middle/High School. This year, the school created an Alumni Hall of Distinction to recognize select graduates and attendees for extraordinary professional achievement. The inaugural three, Adm. James G. Stavridis, vascular surgeon Dr. Robert Gayle and local CEO Jeff Morin, were inducted at a ceremony held over Homecoming Weekend in October.

The school welcomes nominations for the Hall of Distinction until Aug. 1 of each year. The school principal is the permanent chairperson of a selection committee of between six and nine members, which meets once a year to review the nominations and select up to three inductees by confidential vote.

The three inaugural inductees represent excellence in the fields of military leadership, academia, medicine and entrepreneurship. One is a former Marine. All of them said that growing up in a Marine family contributed to their success.

Gayle, who has been prominent in the field of vascular and organ transplantation surgery in the Norfolk, Virginia area since 1980, graduated from QMHS in 1965. He attended the school for two years. It was his father’s second posting to Marine Corps Base Quantico—Gayle attended first through fifth grades aboard Quantico as well.

Gayle said his absolute favorite memory of QMHS was beating the school’s big rivals, Camp Lejeune, in baseball and football.

“I had so many good teachers there, and lots of friends,” he said.

While he was growing up in a Marine Corps family, he looked forward to the adventure of moving to a new state or country every two years.

“And in retrospect, I appreciate the very high quality of people associated with the Marine Corps,” he said. “I think from them and from my parents I got the sense that one needed to do something useful with one’s life, contribute to the country and to one’s fellow man.”

Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral who served as the 15th commander of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, agrees that his association with the Marine Corps contributed to success in his career.

“Moving all the time made me comfortable around other people and open to new people,” he said. “And living overseas gave me a taste for the international world, which helped me decide to do graduate work in international relations, leading to my current job.”

He currently serves as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, the oldest school in the country dedicated to graduate studies in international affairs.

Stavridis, who attended QMHS from 1967 to 1970, said his favorite thing about the school was the size and closeness of its student body.

“You knew your entire class,” he said. “There was a shared set of experiences because people were used to moving and making friends quickly. It was more cohesive than any other educational experience I’ve had.”

Morin, class of 2000, is the CEO of Fredericksburg, Virginia-based Coins for Anything, which has grown from an online marketer of challenge coins to a multi-million dollar a year company and one of the largest private mints in the country. He also said his favorite thing about QMHS was its size.

After graduating, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. In two years, he was ready to make his business idea of re-selling challenge coins online a reality.

Morin said the Marine Corps taught him discipline and perseverance.

“It taught me that if I set my mind to something, I could do it,” he said. “Regimentation, attention to detail, not cutting corners—those are all things the Marine Corps instills in you whether you’re a Marine or a dependent.”

Each of the three inaugural inductees said they felt humbled to be included in the QMHS Alumni Hall of Distinction.

“I feel extremely honored that they saw fit to put me in,” Gayle said.

Stavridis said he was “honestly thrilled” to be included, especially because his parents were both involved with QMHS—his father as chair of the Quantico School Board.

“There are so many people I think deserve it more than me,” Morin said. “It’s a great honor to be recognized.”

He encouraged people to nominate alumni and attendees for next year’s Hall of Distinction award.

“This is a really good thing for the school,” he said.

— Writer: auphausconner@quanticosentryonline.com

Marine Corps Base Quantico