Sallas Mahone students reunites with father returning from deployment
Oct. 30—VALDOSTA — Guadalupe Corona surprised his 5-year-old kindergartener Aurora Corona as he returned home from a six-month military deployment overseas Friday morning.
Aurora was in the Sallas Mahone Elementary School gym dancing with her classmates during a a special PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports) Halloween celebration when Coach Bre'Lynn Cumby announced there would be a special visitor entering the party.
Her parents, Guadalupe and Lauren Corona, walked into the gym shocking Aurora as she ran into her father's arms. Her classmates and other students roared in applause congratulating their special moment.
"I've been deployed for a little over six months. I missed a lot with Aurora just starting school so we decided to try to surprise her. She didn't know I was coming back — she knew I was coming back soon but didn't know the exact day — so we decided to make this a memorable moment for her," Corona said.
Lauren shared the emotional challenges with raising Aurora while they both missed her father while he was away and what it meant for her to see the moment her child reunited with her father.
"It's been hard because every single time we go doing something she says how much she misses her dad and how she wishes dad was here with us. But we just end up taking a lot of pictures and videos, and we send them to him to try to keep him as involved as possible [while] slowly counting down the days," Lauren said. "I was already a nervous wreck so I wasn't sure how she was going to react to really seeing him in person and not just on the other side of a phone. Seeing her slowly piecing it together and seeing her light up that's like Christmas. It's better than Christmas."
"I'm excited," Aurora said shyly into her dad's arms. Her mother said she believes Aurora was more than ready for him to return.
Being able to work collaboratively with Valdosta City Schools and Sallas Mahone Elementary School's administration, faculty and Aurora's teacher meant the world to the Coronas.
"I thought it was great. Like I said, I just got back and she just started school so this is my first time on campus and my first time meeting everybody and to have the principal, superintendent and so many faculty and staff was fantastic," Guadalupe said.
Angela Baxter, Aurora's kindergarten teacher, said it brought tears to her eyes watching the parents reunite with Aurora.
"All the kids were excited today," Baxter said. "I did cry because I know what that feels like. My husband is retired in the military and my girls went through that too."
Lauren added, fighting tears, "It really does show how much they care about our girl so while we're stationed here I know she's in good hands."
Now that the family is back together, Guadalupe is eager to start helping Aurora with homework and participate in other activities he missed out on.
"It's the little dad things I'm excited to come back to," he said.
