Southeast Conference on School Climate

Houston Kraft

Houston Kraft has spent the last two decades cultivating kindness in schools. In 2016, he cofounded CharacterStrong, which today serves over 12,000 schools across 50 states and 49 countries with evidence-based curriculum and trainings. He has spoken at more than 700 campuses and events, wrote Deep Kindness (2020) and Be Kind (2023), and you may recognize the lower half of his face from his appearance on Lay’s BBQ chip bags as someone who helps “spreads smiles.” His message through the years has remained simple: kindness is the foundational behavior of successful schools. He has been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, Hallmark, and more as an expert on developing a more empathetic, kind world. His biggest influence remains his mom, whose best life lesson is to “hug like you mean it.”

David Edward Garcia

David is the only 5-language-speaking-motivational-comedian on the planet! David empathizes with diverse students who face challenges because he was once considered an “at-risk student” himself before defying the odds and graduating with a bachelor’s degree and then earning his Master’s Degree. He has motivated children and mature adults in some of the greatest metropolitan cities of the world: Los Angeles, New York, Sao Paulo, Paris, and London. His upbringing facilitated his multiculturalism/ multilingualism which make it easy to relate to diverse audiences. While his native languages are English, and Spanish, David’s has also presented in French, and Portuguese in his international tours. (He also speaks Italian, bringing his language total to five—for now.)

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