The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
Background on the President’s Childhood Nutrition Bill Signing Today
HARRIET TUBMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The President and First Lady will deliver remarks and the President will sign into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 at Harriet Tubman Elementary School located in Washington, DC. The President and the First Lady will be joined by administration officials and Members of Congress, as well as teachers, students, and parents from Harriet Tubman Elementary School, Bancroft Elementary School, and Murch Elementary School.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will improve the quality of school breakfasts, lunches and other foods sold in schools while also strengthening nutrition programs that serve young children, including WIC and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The bill is an important advancement of the Obama Administration’s goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation, which First Lady Michelle Obama has championed through the Let’s Move! Initiative.
STAGE PARTICIPANTS
Secretary Tom Vilsack
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary Arne Duncan
Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-AR
Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA
Representative Rosa DeLauro, D-CT
Representative George Miller, D-CA
Representative Todd Platts, R-PA
Luis Avelar-Turcios and Belkis Turcios (mother)
Tammy Nguyen and Nancy Nguyen (mother)
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS EXPECTED TO ATTEND
Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-AR
Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
Representative Rosa DeLauro, D-CT
Representative Sam Farr, D-CA
Representative Rush Holt, D-NJ
Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-TX
Representative Barbara Lee, D-CA
Representative George Miller, D-CA
Representative Gwen Moore, D-WI
Representative Jim Moran, D-VA
Representative Donald Payne, D-NJ
Representative Todd Platts, R-PA
BACKGROUND
Luis Avilar-Turcios
Luis is a 3rd grade student at Harriet Tubman Elementary School in Washington, DC. He is a strong math student and reader and is described by his principal as an outstanding student. Luis dreams of becoming a professional soccer player one day and currently plays on the DC Scores soccer team. His parents are from El Salvador and Honduras and he is fluent in English and Spanish.
Tammy Nguyen
Tammy is a 7th grade student at Deal Middle School in Washington, DC and a Bancroft Elementary School alumna. Tammy read an essay she wrote about working in the White House Kitchen Garden when the First Lady visited Bancroft Elementary in May 2009. She also introduced the First Lady at the launch of the Let’s Move initiative in February 2010.
Harriet Tubman Elementary School
Tubman Elementary School in located in Northwest Washington, DC near Columbia Heights. It is a public school serving grades pre-K through 5th grade. The school has just under 500 students and has recently worked with White House chefs as part of the Chefs Move to School initiative. Tubman students participated in the recent White House garden harvest event.
Bancroft Elementary School
Bancroft Elementary School is in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, DC, near Rock Creek Park. It is a public school and its programs include an extensive Spanish language program. Bancroft has about 450 students; it includes a Head Start program through 5th grade and is a Title 1 School-wide Program school. Fifth-grade students from Bancroft have worked with the First Lady at almost every event in the White House Kitchen Garden and the First Lady visited Bancroft in May 2009.
Murch Elementary School
Murch Elementary School is located in the upper Northwest area of Washington, DC. It is a public school with a long history of academic excellence. The school has approximately 500 students, pre-K through 5th grade. Students from Murch participated in the South Lawn Kick-Off with the First Lady in May 2010. The school won the city championship for girls track (boys placed second).