Laurence (“Larry”) Fieber has dedicated his life to public education for the good of children. He is an educator in the truest sense, believing in and raising up all young people, including those whom others have left behind. His accomplishments are too numerous to recount here, but inclusion on the Wall of Honor of the National Air and Space Museum is a fitting tribute to this extraordinary man for some very special reasons.
At the start of his teaching career, Larry developed and implemented the annual “Washington Seminar” program at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. The program, each year, included a visit to the Smithsonian where his students could marvel at the ingenuity and courage of the pioneers of flight at the National Air and Space Museum. He used the experience as a teachable moment—as an opportunity to encourage his students to let their imaginations and dreams fly beyond the stars.
Decades later, the Washington Seminar continues on. Over the years, this program has brought many hundreds of students to our Nation’s Capital, where most of them have had the opportunity to visit the National Air and Space Museum for the first time in their lives.
Larry also inspires young people to follow in his footsteps, helping to prepare them to become the next generation of educators: the ones who will be the teachers of our Nation’s future doctors, lawyers, educators, scientists, and, of course, our Nation’s future pilots and astronauts.
Larry, himself, is a seasoned traveler. The ‘power of flight’ brought the world to him and him to the world. His journeys and experiences around the globe have made richer the lessons he imparts to his students.
Larry Fieber is a man who embraces life with passion, whose spirit soars to the heavens, and who is loved to the moon and back.