Our last two days at ANC 2013 in Kansas City were a whirlwind of education and general sessions, visits to the (always amazing) Exhibit Hall, our annual First Timers’ Reception at the School Nutrition Foundation booth, cooking demonstrations (and food tastings—yum!), and talking school breakfast with everyone we met. We are excited to bring you more in-depth stories from our time at ANC 2013 in the coming weeks, but here are some final highlights from our last days in Kansas City.
On Tuesday, July 16, we started the day off with an education session co-sponsored by School Nutrition Foundation and No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength. “Making the Case for Breakfast” featured speakers Christy Felling and Marla Caplon, who spoke on why school breakfast is so important, and strategies to help school nutrition professionals make the case to stakeholders—administrators, custodians, and teachers—to implement and strengthen school breakfast programs.
Our ANC First Timers’ Reception
Next up was something we look forward to every year—the First Timers’ Reception! SNF Director Julie Abrera and Chair Scott Swogger welcomed scholarship recipients, alongside past presidents Dora Rivas, Josephine Martin, Mary Nix, and Nancy Rice. Later that afternoon we toured the Exhibit Hall, and then we attended the second general session where Lisa Ling delivered a stirring address, punctuated with fascinating stories about her work in journalism.
Jarrett J. Krosoczka and “the Chopped ladies”!
On Wednesday, July 17, we were back at the Kansas City Convention Center bright and early to hear author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka talk about his popular “Lunch Lady” series of graphic novels. We were surprised when, at the end of his talk, Krosoczka brought out the school nutrition professionals who appeared on an episode of the Food Network’s “Chopped” and conducted a brief Q-and-A on why being a “lunch teacher” is so important.
SNF Chair Scott Swogger, about to take the stage and kick off SNF’s year-long 50th birthday celebration.
It was during this final general session that we also heard from SNF Chair Scott Swogger, who kicked off the School Nutrition Foundation’s year-long 50th birthday celebration—more on that in the coming weeks!
Later that afternoon we attended “Increase Participation in Your Breakfast in the Classroom Program” with Lora Gilbert and Javier Vazquez from Orange County Public Schools. OCPS was one of the original districts when SNF and Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom launched our BIC pilot program back in 2010. Session attendees had lots of questions about how to engage administrators and other stakeholders, as well as marketing and delivery models. SNF has answers to these questions, and more, in our online BIC Resource Center.
We are looking forward to sharing more stories from Kansas City with you in the coming weeks, including the amazing videos we took in our Video Booth. But for now we are going to take a much-needed break to unwind after a busy, productive, and fun week in Kansas City. See you next week!