She ‘just kept going for him’: Beaufort High grad perseveres after father’s death
Layla Warren has always been a leader, for people younger and older than she is.
When Layla was in eighth grade, Beaufort High’s legendary track coach Herbert Glaze asked her to run for his team. She joined the school’s varsity basketball team in the ninth grade.
Being the youngest on the track and the court “built her character,” she said — and when she graduates Monday night, she’ll do so as the captain of both teams.
She’s also graduating with Eagle Distinguished and Eagle Honor Roll Awards, as the vice president of the student council and with a 3.7 GPA.
In April, Layla lost her father, Edward Warren Jr., in a motorcycle crash. He was “father, coach, mentor, everything,” she said — but she knew she had to persevere in his memory.
“It was rough,” she said. “I just know my father wouldn’t want me to stop doing what I was doing just because he’s gone. And I know he’s not a sad person, and that’s why I got up and just kept going. For him.”
Layla committed to Newberry College in Newberry, S.C., between Greenville and Columbia, to run track last week. She plans to major in nursing and walk on to the basketball team.
Her mother, Crystal Warren, credited Layla’s “drive to succeed” as the reason for her success.
“Her dad was everything to us,” she said. “Him being gone and her being able to carry on like that was just amazing. I know we all have our moments every now and again, and she has her moments. But she picks herself back up and makes it happen.”
Despite her perseverance, some of the milestones of Layla’s senior year were disrupted by COVID-19. She spent the year in virtual learning, getting fatigue from “sitting in front of a computer.” She was hoping to make the 1,000 point club for basketball, but couldn’t because so many games were canceled for quarantines.
But one tradition held: The passing of the mantle. On Thursday, the seniors and juniors at Beaufort High exchanged speeches, with the seniors eventually giving their seats to the juniors to symbolize their new role at the top of the school.
For Layla, who gave the junior class speech in 2020 and helped plan this year’s ceremony with the student council, the ceremony was the capstone on years of community building.
“It means a lot to me,” she said of her reputation at the school. “It makes me proud to make my family proud.”