JROTC Cadet Cameron Torres, a CMR junior, joined Great Falls Public Schools Superintendent Tom Moore and others Dec. 3 to celebrate C. M. Russell High School’s receipt of the Purple Star Award.

The Purple Star Award recognizes schools with outstanding records of providing service to military students and families who transition in and out of the community, Moore said.

“You do a good job here,” Moore told Principal Kerry Parsons. Great Falls is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base and the Air National Guard, and more than 300 families and 500 military students are members of the GFPS community.

Moore also pointed to the JROTC program as something that provides students with invaluable support and experience.

“Our goal is to prepare students to successfully navigate their future, and [JROTC] supports them,” he said, pointing to the program’s success in providing physical training, discipline and the ability to rise to the expectations of a military — or non-military — career.

“It’s designed to prepare them to be good citizens and explore what military service will be like,” Moore said.

Also in attendance Thursday was Ret. Lt. Col. Holbein, who is a senior aerospace instructor and leader of the JROTC program in Great Falls.