Northern Shores Elementary School proved just how important it is for military families after receiving the Purple Star designation from the Virginia Council on the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

The school received this award due to the various programs and services it offers its military families and its military students.

Constant moves and deployments are a regular occurrence for any military family, but the stress doesn’t get easier. Changing schools and missing parents can make school life more difficult than it already is.

Northern Shores counselor Maria Eiring has implemented multiple programs to help the academic and the personal lives of the children facing the difficulties being a part of a military family.

The programs and additional training she completed were all done out of love for her students, because this was not a requirement. Eiring and the rest of the Northern Shores staff just recognized the need in their school.

The Anchored4Life program is just one way Eiring shows compassion for her students. The program helps train other students on how to be empathetic toward new students at the school or ones with parents going on deployment.

One of the things they train for is to gift a box to the military student. Inside the box, the student finds goodies like a teddy bear, a journal and a family workbook. All of them have a specific purpose for helping the students navigate such a tough time.

Part of Eiring’s programs even includes services to help in times of transition for the students. That includes students both leaving and joining Northern Shores.

This kind of compassion and empathy from Eiring and other students is essential to make sure these students feel welcome, and it’s a great thing to see expanding all across Hampton Roads.

We hope to see Northern Shores serve as a guide for the rest of the city of Suffolk. The military population is constantly growing all throughout Hampton Roads, and it is becoming a necessity to have resources in place for the new families that will eventually come and go.