New London — Museum technician Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin and volunteers were working on new exhibit displays Thursday at the museum on the Coast Guard Academy's campus.

It is the first major update the museum has seen to permanent displays since renovations in 2012. 

Laughlin said the museum has been working recently to showcase diversity, not just in skin color or sex but also in showing different jobs within the service branch. "When we take prospective students on a tour, we want them to find inspiration to make a difference, to see their home on this long blue line," she said.

Recent additions include a lieutenant maternity uniform from the 1980s-90s, a flight suit and helmet from the first recognized African American to achieve a rank higher than lieutenant and the first minority aviator and helicopter pilot Capt. Bobby Wilks, a World War II uniform and the uniform of 2018 graduate Lt. j.g. Jacob Brown, who now works as the admissions officer at the academy.