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When Chuck Norris tells you something's good for your children, you should probably listen.
That's what school officials from across the state did Wednesday night during the Administrative Leadership Institute dinner, an annual gathering of school administrators who come together to discuss improving Texas public education, starting at the leadership level.
Local school and city leaders as well as Texas A&M officials were in attendance at the event at Miramont Country Club in Bryan.
Norris spoke to the group about his educational karate program, Kickstart.
Founded by Norris, Kickstart is a martial arts program implemented in schools with the intention of positively affecting students by teaching them discipline, self-worth and other life skills through karate.
The program is similar to other physical education classes, and Kickstart instructors are assigned to each participating school.
Norris said the idea for Kickstart came to him when he was a karate instructor in the 1980s.
"The kids at my school had parents who could afford to bring them," he said. "But what about the kids whose parents can't afford to bring them? It kept coming back to me."
Norris said he met with President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and mentioned the idea. Shortly after their visit, Bush helped Norris implement the first Kickstart program in an inner-city Houston school in 1992.
Since then, the program has expanded to include 44 schools in Galveston, Dallas and Pflugerrville, and more than 65,000 students have graduated as Kickstart participants.
Norris said he intends to introduce the program at all Texas schools in the hope that it will catch on at schools across the country.
While the program is not just for at-risk students, Norris said, many of the Kickstart students come from low-income families with crime-ridden backgrounds.
Kickstart students are required to drop any gang membership associations to stay in the program, he said.
Derrick Stinson, a Kickstart instructor, said his life wouldn't be the same had he not enrolled in the Kickstart program as a middle school student.
"I had a really hard time growing up," he said. "My dad was addicted to crack. No 12-year-old should know the smell of crack."
Kickstart gave Stinson the opportunity to escape the world of gangs, drugs, and crime he was subjected to on a daily basis, he said.
Charles Dupre, superintendent of Pflugerrville schools, said that since introducing Kickstart three years ago more than 700 students have joined and the program has been well-received by parents.
