The University of Delaware recently celebrated the successful completion of its Chirpy wellbeing challenge program with “Mindfulness in the Garden” event at the UD Cooperative Extension teaching gardens. Extension Office staff led the group through an hour of activities that engaged all five senses through intentional mindfulness practice, and a call to notice the changing seasons. Master Gardener and Master Naturalist volunteers shared their knowledge of planting, birding and supporting local habitats.

The Chirpy program encouraged UD faculty, staff, retirees and household members to engage in daily physical activity, express gratitude and practice mindfulness techniques such as meditation and deep breathing. Completing activities for points unlocked a daily songbird and moved teams and individuals up a competitive leaderboard. Competition ended with a close finish between our top 3 teams:

First Place | Fowl Players | Graduate College
Rachel Miller
Monica Browne
Jane Shire
Adam Kamras

Second Place | Chirpy Says What!? | Lerner/Honors College
Janet Caruccio
Jennifer Riegner
Christine Schultz
Mike Habegger
David Schultz
Jeff Riegner

Third Place | Lil’ wRECking Bobbers | Athletics, Community and Campus Recreation
Andrea Alesi
Cecilia Kelly
Lauren Dudziak
Alysha Parker
Mirza Javed
Tim Groth
Laura Grimes
Kevin Rose
Tony Goldston
Christine Pena

Congratulations to all the individuals who participated in this year’s program and contributed to our Chirpy totals of 730,132,388 steps, 8,112 moments of gratitude, and 6,265 meditation sessions! More information about Employee Engagement and Wellbeing programs can be found via UD Human Resources.