Live Events

Shape Up US Health and Wellness Expos

Our LIve Events

• Free for ALL - Thousands of Participants
• Introduces the Shape Up US Educational Programs State-by-State 
• Creates Awareness about Heart Disease and Preventionfor K-12 students, parents, teachers, and schools 
• Samples from 50+ Vendors - healthy food, products, services and much more!
• Hands-On Activities - fitness contests, games, cooking, food tastings, arts and crafts, healthy giveaways, drawings
• Sport Clinics - baseball, soccer, basketball and football
• Live Entertainment on Two Stages - local and nationally recognized entertainers, music, dance, martial arts, hip hop, and much more!

Why are we targeting American Schools?

• Our schools can make an enormous, positive impact on the health of this nation.
• Every school day, 52 million young people attend more than 110,000 schools across America.
• Schools are the ideal setting to educate and establish healthy lifestyle habits from Kindergarten to high school.
  • Over 9 million 6-19 years olds in the US are overweight or obese.
  • Approximately 60% of obese children aged 5 to 10 years had at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor.
  • 30% of boys and 40% of girls are at risk of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives.

Shape Up US contributes to building a healthy future for America’s children by improving the health, fitness and overall well-being of youth and their families. Each Health & Wellness Expo is free to all who attend.  It is designed to promote wellness, create awareness about a healthy lifestyle and provide a day of fun for the entire family.

These Health & Wellness Expos:

• Promote awareness and discussion of health and wellness among family members, teachers and schools on how to assess and address their personal and community wellness.
• Strengthen community by connecting attendees with businesses, media, sports teams, schools and universities, non-profit organizations, and city service organizations (fire and police departments, hospitals, and local governments) around issues related to health promotion and wellness.
• Introduce Hip Hop Healthy Heart Program for Children™, Shape Up US’ continuing education program for teachers and their K-6^th grade students.

Host Venues Together we decide on 8 to 10 cities for the 2012 launch of Shape Up US. We will identify the locations for the event and we will identify roles and responsibilities, working together to make the project a success.  At each location the venue will be chosen based on criteria Shape Up US has developed for successful health and wellness expos.

Children of all ages enter the Expo free of charge and register at the entrance, unless previously registered online by parent though Shape Up US. All registrants are automatically entered into a drawing for a prize (IPod, tablet computer, etc.). As soon as they enter, they can begin discovering the wealth of information, physical activities, demonstrations and entertainment.

Activities: Every exhibitor offers a giveaway or an activity for attendees, providing a variety of information, take home items and most of all, FUN! Thousands of participants at this event enjoy tumbling, tug-of-war and other fitness contests, games, hands-on cooking, food tasting, arts and crafts projects, inflatable’s, face painting, dancing, “JUST CLAP FOR LIFE!™” contests with prizes and much more.

Entertainment: As kids take a break from the activities, they enjoy the entertainment on multiple stages set up around the expo. Continuous live entertainment features sports team mascots, local and nationally recognized musicians, enter-tainers, dances, other performers, gymnasts, and martial arts troupes. Eric James, Shape Up US’ hip-hop artist, performs on stage!

Booths: Hundreds of booths provide information on everything you can imagine related to healthy living. For example: dental practices, including demonstrations of proper brushing and flossing techniques with dental supplies as giveaways; youth programs sponsored by Parks and Recreation detailing programs and invitations to attend an event; DARE or other risk behavior prevention programs; grocery stores with samples of produce that kids love to eat and other information about healthy food choices; banks providing information about saving money.

Hosts and Venues: These big-venue events are hosted by school districts that get their teachers, students and parents involved in the planning, execution and clean-up of the events. Shape UP US events take place at school football fields, city parks and indoor arenas.

Marketing: Advertisements and public service announce through TV, radio, print, e-mail blasts, movie theatres, and flyers  throughout the community (schools, supermarkets, and local businesses) brings thousands of participants statewide.

Our Focus: Our focus is helping families and educators understand the benefits of the Hip Hop Healthy Heart Program for Children™ and inspiring educators to register at the Hip Hop Healthy Heart Booth in order to bring the curriculum into their classrooms. Teachers can earn professional development hours for each of the 6 individual modules through Rio Salado College, one of the largest providers of teacher education. Public, home school, fitness, day care, camp, park and recreation educators can register at the Hip Hop Healthy Heart Booth for both the Rio Salado development hours ($25.00) and for the Hip Hop Healthy Heart program materials ($25-35 per module).  They can also opt to purchase the materials without taking the course through Rio Salado. (In this case they will not receive any development hours.)

Our Goal: It is our belief that by providing the most up-to-date wellness information and education to families, children, and educators, we create wellness awareness and leadership that empowers individuals, educational organizations, and business collaboration to create wellness support networks that provide positive solutions for leading healthier, happier and more meaningful lives.