Meet the South Lakes Purple Star Ambassadors, a group of students with parents from a military background with the goal to help all military connected kids feel a sense of welcoming here at South Lakes.

“I started Purple Star to try to ‘Purple Star certify’ our school for military connected students,” President Ainsley Sachse says. “To be Purple Star certified recognizes that the school supports military students, and we get some aid to help them,” Sachse explains. 

“As a military child, I know what it’s like to be a new kid multiple different times and have my dad be deployed for long periods of time, and not being able to see him,” Sachse continues. “It really helps that I’m able to help other students going through the same.”

“We’re trying to get South Lakes to get the Purple Star certification, and we help make our school better and a community for military and government connected kids who are new and moved here, or just need a group to be with,” Vice President Emily Inman elaborates.

“I lived in Djibouti and all the people that we were friends with back there are still our friends today, but there are still some military kids who don’t have that here, and we want to be able to help people,” Inman continues.

Purple Star continues to branch out and helps military kids here at South Lakes. For Month of the Military Child, they decorated a bulletin board, using the term “Military Brat”. Although the word has a negative connotation, Purple Star used it, and the board, to display the strength and adaptability of military students. They also advertised “purple up day”, where students wore purple to represent the resilience of military students.