Military students recognized on ‘Purple Up!’ Day

Students, faculty and staff in the El Paso area are encouraged to wear the color Wednesday to recognize and appreciate military students.

April is the month of the military child.

‘Purple Up!’ is being celebrated at El Paso Independent School District campuses.

Currently, there are more than 6,000 military students at EPISD schools.

Many times, children in military families are expected to pack up and begin a new life in a different city, different school and make new friends. This is the case at Chapin High School which has one of the highest enrollments of military students.

The color purple was chosen because it symbolizes all branches of the military.

The campaign was launched by ‘Operation Military Kids’ four years ago. The organization was recently discontinued at the end of March, but the tradition of the ‘Purple Up!’ campaign continues.

Brianna Gilbert, a senior at Chapin High School and a military child, said some of her peers don’t understand the difficulties of deployment.

By wearing purple Wednesday, Brianna said it makes her feel like she has additional support from the entire school.

She added deployments never get easier.

“Sometimes you can’t talk to them days on end. That’s really, really hard because you’re so used to seeing their face everyday coming home from work in their uniform. Then one day they don’t come back for awhile,” said Brianna.

Chapin High School has a military liaison on campus every day for students.

Bonnie Logsdon, Parent Engagement Leader at Chapin, told ABC-7 there is also a peer group that welcomes incoming students whose parents are in the military.

Brianna said the challenges are tough to overcome, but it has made her a stronger person.

“I feel everyone wearing purple on the same day shows that we care about each other and we’re a support group.”