The 6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference was held in San Diego, California, June 28 – 30, 2011. It was my privilege to attend this exciting event.

With almost 2,000 participants from across the country this was a great venue to build new relationships and reacquaint ourselves with friends and colleagues that share our passion and determination to help make a difference in the future of our children’s health and well-being. This year’s theme was Celebrating Success and Moving Toward Health in All Policies. It underscored the importance of working together in a cohesive direction to successfully make an impact; it was invigorating to hear all of the success stories from efforts that have already been implemented and sustained throughout the state such as: breakfast in the classroom, joint-use facilities, and creating safe parks, sidewalks and communities. It was reassuring to learn how districts have strengthened their Local School Wellness Policies and are incorporating an emphasis on nutrition education and physical education through research-based practices. The sessions also provided insight into how new policies such as the Healthy & Hunger Free Kids Act and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will impact change in schools.

One highlight from the conference was Dairy Council of California partnering with California Department of Education’s Nutrition Services Division to sponsor breakfast during the pre-conference session, Nutrition Education That Works! which included hands-on activities on how to choose the right nutrition education curriculum and how to become an expert in using the 2010 Nutrition Competencies. In addition to providing a healthy, balanced breakfast, Dairy Council of California distributed the new interactive fact sheet, Boost Brainpower with Breakfast!, and highlighted the breakfast lessons from each of the Dairy Council of California grades K-8 curriculums. This pre-conference session was so popular the attendees were overflowing into the halls hoping to still be able to walk away with every bit of information that was shared. It was a great start to a great conference.

Be sure to save the date for the 7th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, June 18–20, 2013, in Long Beach, California. I am sure the conference in 2013 will be even bigger and better!

Tracy Conkey, Territory Manager
Dairy Council of California