A Killeen ISD elementary school in the middle of Fort Cavazos has proudly added a purple tint this week to the usual Army green.
A pair of parent volunteers in the front lobby of Oveta Culp Hobby Elementary School pieced together Monday a flowing purple and white backdrop for photos.
Two days later, the backdrop was getting plenty of business as family members took part in a Muffins for the Military breakfast before the start of school.
The librarian gathered with a dozen volunteer soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment to discuss their newest mission – to read to children.
A counselor continued working on the logistics of activities scattered through the middle of April, known at places like this as Month of the Military Child.
Purple Up Day, officially designated Wednesday in Killeen ISD, is part of a month-long focus on children connected to the military.
Adopt-a-school volunteer soldiers returned to the school to hand out purple beads. The school also provided Purple-Up shirts to students and staff members.
Hobby Principal Alena Thomas said the day, week and month present natural opportunities to honor children who are easy to support because of their unique service to their families and their nation.
As a military spouse, she knows what she’s talking about when she listens to the challenges of students and staff members facing the uncertainty of a life marked by mobility and deployment.
Hobby librarian Kristin Phillips acknowledges that she is a civilian, but now in her 13th year working at a school on post, she sees a privilege in serving students and family members on Fort Cavazos.
“It’s an honor to be here,” she said. “It’s a unique, fulfilling way to give back.”
Both Thomas and Phillips said that their students, of course, see soldiers all the time, but when they come to the school to help out, it’s different.
“This time of year, we have a high percentage of deployments,” Phillips said. “Having soldiers visibly here gives comfort. They love to see them coming into the classroom in uniform.”
A soldier visiting a kindergarten class read a story about different animals.
The children and soldier discussed the benefits and challenges of being certain animals. “I’d like to be a frog.” “I’d like to be a pig.” “I want to be a cat.”
“Some soldiers come in and don’t know what to expect and end up having a wonderful time,” said Phillips.
Bailey Becker and Alison Vargas, moms with three kids apiece, know something about the importance of supporting military children.
“It’s important to celebrate their resilience,” said Becker, who has children spread out from elementary, middle to high school.
The sons and daughters of soldiers learn to go with the flow like few others.
Schools like Hobby Elementary that go the extra mile to honor student sacrifice make a difference.
“I told them it’s our own little party,” said Vargas, whose oldest two children, age 4 and 6, attend the elementary school.
“They say that it’s for daddy,” she said of the purple shirts, photo backdrop, and later in the week, a planned Purple Up glow party.
Her children call soldiers “worker daddies” and she calls them “our worker children.”
The week concluded Friday with a glow party during PE and lunch. Students used paper plates as skates and skimmed around the school gym in a black-lit rink with music playing.
