Alisha Leite, left, and Karyssa Koprusak, right, both juniors at Burrillville High School, listen as Navy Captain Walter E. "Ted" Carter, above, commander of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and a graduate of the school, tells of his adventures.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Alisha Leite, left, and Karyssa Koprusak, right, both juniors at Burrillville High School, listen as Navy Captain Walter E. "Ted" Carter, above, commander of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and a graduate of the school, tells of his adventures.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Alisha Leite, left, and Karyssa Koprusak, right, both juniors at Burrillville High School, listen as Navy Captain Walter E. "Ted" Carter, above, commander of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and a graduate of the school, tells of his adventures.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

BURRILLVILLE — When Capt. Walter E. “Ted” Carter Jr. was sworn in last month as commander of the Carl Vinson, one of the Navy’s largest nuclear-powered super carriers, two dozen civilians in matching T-shirts came to cheer him on.

“We’re here for Ted from Burrillville, RI,” their shirts read.

The group, Carter’s former hockey teammates, teachers and classmates from Burrillville High School, made the trek from Rhode Island to Virginia to applaud their old friend, and show a little small-town pride.

Yesterday, Carter came back to Burrillville to return the favor.

A former fighter pilot and Naval Academy graduate, Carter spoke to students in honor of Veterans Day. It was his first time back at the school since graduating 29 years ago.

Part biography, part history seminar, his presentation also carried a life lesson: You can travel around the world and command one of the biggest ships ever made, but you never forget where you came from. Your hometown shapes who you are. And if you’re lucky, it follows you in homemade T-shirts.

From a seat in the audience, Nancy Villatico, Carter’s social studies teacher back in the 1970s, beamed at her former student.

“I think it’s important for kids to know they can achieve this sort of thing. He was such a down to earth person [as a teenager]. If he can do it, so can they. That’s the single most important message today. He won’t say it, but I will. If you try hard, you can do anything you want. He’s a kid from a small town and look what he’s done.”

Villatico, now retired, was one of the group who traveled to Virginia for Carter’s change of command ceremony last month. Watching him assume command of a ship of that magnitude was nearly breathtaking, she said.

One of 10 Nimitz class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the Carl Vinson is as big as Burrillville is small.

A virtual city at sea, the Vinson carries almost 6,000 crew members and more than 80 planes. Tip it on its side and it is nearly as long as the Empire State Building.

In Carter’s words, it’s one of a fleet of warships “that arguably define us as a superpower.”

Named for a Georgia congressman in 1982, the ship was one of the first carriers on scene in the Persian Gulf after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Vinson’s planes flew more than 4,000 combat missions in over nearly three months in the region. Currently, the ship is being repaired in Virginia.

How does a Burrillville teenager wind up commanding such a massive super carrier?

Carter told the students that his decision to attend the Naval Academy came from an assembly much like this one, with a presentation from a naval officer.

Hearing that, sophomore Josh Durand, sat up a little straighter.

Durand, 15, said he’s been toying with the idea of joining the Navy, or maybe the Air Force after graduation. “This changed how I looked at school and why it’s important,” he said.

Carter seemed pleased at Durand’s reaction. Even when you command one of the largest warships in the world, the power of positive influence never gets old, he said.