Mr. McLaughlin earned his M.S.Ed. at the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology at Penn State University. For the past six years, Mr. McLaughlin taught high school social studies in Wallingford, Pennsylavania (the suburbs of Philadelphia).

Mr. McLaughlin is an aspiring ethnomusicologist and has collected several instruments, including a:  digeridoo, folk guitar, bass guitar, banjo, Native American flute, and South American flute. He aspires to add a kora to his instrument collection, which is a West African harp. 

Last summer, Mr. McLaughlin was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmark Fellowship hosted by Ramapo College and spent one week studying the Modernization of America and the Hudson River.