The Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools initiative was showcased at a number of key events in Houston on January 16, 2010. These events represent a milestone for Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools (HKHS), coming almost one year after the launch of the initiative at the HKHS Summit: Leveraging the Power of Our Community held at the Houston Club.

Getting the day off to a healthy start were dozens of Houston Independent School District's own Kandy Stripe Academy students who joined thousands of other children in the 13th annual Texas Children's Hospital Kids' Fun Run (see above photo).

Later in the morning, Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools successes were celebrated during presentations at the Houston Wellness Associations's 2010 Community Health & Wellness Summit. Alicia Moag-Stalhberg, HKHS co-chair and Principal of Ceres Connections, gave a keynote address on why and how the HKHS initiative was created, what has been accomplished since its inception last year, and how HKHS has come to be viewed as a national model for school wellness. Attendees included a diverse range of health and wellness advocates from the Houston area, including several HISD staff who volunteered to serve in HKHS's new Health Coach program, an effort to boost wellness efforts at the building level.

Rose Haggerty, HKHS co-chair and HISD's Manager of Secondary Health and Physical Education, participated in a Saturday afternoon breakout group discussion, highlighting HKHS as an example of using collaboration to successfully partner with a school district. The session was facilitated by HKHS Steering Committee Member Dr. Nancy Murray, Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Public Health.

HKHS also was profiled prominently to conference attendees in an exhibit arranged by Nan Cramer, Director of School Marketing and Nutrition Education, Dairy MAX, a key sponsor of HKHS and the Fuel Up to Play 60 program.

Earlier in the week, HKHS conducted focus groups with students at Pin Oak and Dowling middle schools, and Worthing and Madison high schools, in a continuing effort to involve students in the shaping of the upcoming student-led HKHS communication campaign, "Change the Game."