There was fun and fitness. There was also cheering and dancing. There were prizes. There was information.
Mostly, though, the Killeen ISD Family Fitness and Wellness Fair on Saturday was people – a lot of people.
Hundreds of residents, mostly KISD students, employees and family members, stepped out of a cloudy mist into the Killeen Special Events Center to the sound of excitement.
Killeen ISD Community Relations Director Angenet Wilkerson said it was about wellness, physical, mental, spiritual, financial, emotional.
It was the district’s 17th annual wellness fair, organized through the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC).
There was a climbing wall and bounce house, a bustling farmers market with tasty vegetables, fruits and other nutritious food to try and an adaptive fitness area.
Vendors represented the range of wellness from clinics to boxing, groups like Fellowship of Christian Athletes and much more.
Next to the farmer’s market that KISD School Nutrition operated, children rolled watermelons and on one end of the facility Chaparral High School JROTC cadets assisted with physical fitness.
The soundtrack of the fair was heavy on KISD talent.
The voice of MY 95.1 Radio Jamie Garrett took care of the announcements, and with his students broadcast the event.
Other sounds gave a breezy island feel from the Shoemaker High School Pandemonium steel drum corps.
Shoemaker junior Mario Puente, part of the 25-member Pandemonium drum group said the group is getting many invitations to community events.
“I think the audience really enjoys us. I think that’s why we get invited out so much. The crowd always claps, they sing along and dances along,” he said.
Karla “KC” Perez, a junior, said the group specializes in a Caribbean sound with a jazzy, groovy feel that tends to get people moving.
“The general response is applauding,” she said. “When we get hyped up and play with energy, people move around or even dance to the music. We just give them that energy to have fun.”
The Chaparral High School choir, Shoemaker High School Silver Stars dance team, Patterson Middle School Saphires dance team and Manor Middle School cheerleaders all performed on or alongside the fair stage.
“That’s what I like,” said Wilkerson gesturing toward the Shoemaker dance team moving along with the sounds of the Chaparral choir as they sang.
She also praised the student groups performing on stage. "They are what we're all about," she said.
When students receive full wellness, she pointed out, they learn and grow to the best of their ability.
