Students parade in front of the school during a event to mark the “Month of the Military Child” at Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas-Nellis Air Force Base Campus Friday, April 5, 2024.
Friday, April 5, 2024 | 2:59 p.m.
At a northeast Las Vegas school where almost every student has a parent in the military, the children have unique backgrounds and challenges — which gave their school a reason to celebrate them.
The Coral Academy of Science on Nellis Air Force Base recognized their students Friday with a parade around the campus as families, many in uniform, cheered them on.
April is the month of the Military Child, which honors military-connected kids for showing resiliency and bravery through frequent relocations and being separated from deployed parents.
Joseph and Nichole Morales supported their son Caleb, a third-grader, with a handmade poster decorated with stickers of his favorite anime characters around the encouraging phrase “To our everyday hero! We’re endlessly proud of you!”
The family has been stationed at Nellis for about six months. Joseph Morales is a chief in the Seabees, a Naval engineering and construction force — military installations can have members of more than one branch — and came to Nevada from Port Hueneme at Naval Base Ventura County in California.
Nichole Morales said she’s found that military children can have a harder time making friends, even among other military kids. Their son is a social boy, though, who lights up everywhere.
“I think he just realizes that this is his life and he’s living through it,” she said. “He’s a happy kid.”
Coral Academy-Nellis is a state-sponsored public charter school. It has six sister schools around the Las Vegas area, and is open to anyone, regardless of family military affiliation. But it’s especially convenient for the base community, whose children may also attend nearby Clark County School District schools.
At Coral Academy-Nellis — which is fully enrolled with about 900 children from preschool through eighth grade and has a waiting list — about 90% of students are military-connected, said Principal Miadora Nelson. She said on-base charter schools are rare, as most military children attend traditional district-run schools in the community or located on bases (CCSD formerly ran a school on Nellis grounds).
The Department of Defense also has schools on installations, typically internationally or in remote locations.
Coral has a modern, handsome campus in the heart of the Nellis family housing village, and it’s not unusual for the signature red, white and blue Thunderbirds jets to soar over the playground. Children from active duty military families get weighted consideration in the enrollment lottery. Civilian families make an effort to get in, though; Nelson said they appreciate the safety and security of being behind Nellis’ gates. They are given special passes to get on base, and they can come from far around the valley. Nelson said she has students whose parents drive them in from Summerlin.
She said military children are accepting and those who have lived outside of the United States have a sophistication.
“They have such unique world experiences that shape them,” she said. “They are so interesting to talk to.”
Nelson said their keen awareness of world events can also put them on edge — after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel last year, student behaviors escalated as they feared that their parents would be sent to war.
School staff can connect with how military kids see the world, including in times of uncertainty and stress, because many are military spouses or veterans themselves. Nelson’s husband served with the Navy in Iraq during the War on Terror. Counselor Tia Deloatch’s husband is currently in Qatar with the Air Force, and will be coming home next month to his two small children, who are 4 years old and 8 months old.
Deloatch said she helps students with anxiety from their parents being deployed or reassigned to a new base. And they get that she gets it.
“I relate to them on a different level,” she said. “I know what they’re experiencing. I know what they’re feeling.”
