MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — While Idaho's servicemen and women spend their time serving our country, their kids are spending time preparing to be the country's future.
Planes are not the only thing soaring to new heights at the Mountain Home Air Force Base. Stephensen Elementary School in Mountain Home was recognized as Idaho's first Purple Star School for having programs and resources to support the children of service members.
Military families often move every two to three years - and all that turbulence can take a toll on the students, who face unique challenges.
"The kids, every two to three years, have to pick up and make completely new friends," Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield said. "Then, after they start to learn the school and learn the teachers and have a friend group, they're up and moving again."
Idaho is the 43rd state to implement a Purple Star School program. Critchfield made it a priority to establish the program in the Gem State.
"I can't think of a better way to honor [service member's] military service and how they protect and defend our country than to support and help their kids," Critchfield said.
The Purple Star designation recognizes schools that support students of military families through programs and resources, including a dedicated liaison officer, counseling services and more.
"This program specifically will allow students to meet a peer of their age group or their grade, and it will allow them to have a friend right on the first day of school to kind of show them around the school and to help them with those social and emotional challenges that they may face," Mountain Home Air Force Base School Liaison Officer Domineek Haag said.
Stephensen Elementary is located on the Mountain Home Air Force Base and has about 330 students, most of whom come from military families.