Health trekkers
UD employees 'circle the Earth' twice during Walktober fitness campaign
8:03 a.m., Nov. 12, 2015--For the past six weeks, more than 440 University of Delaware faculty and staff members tracked their physical activity as part of the fall wellness campaign, Walktober, hosted by the Office of Human Resources’ Employee Wellness Program.
The program saw great success in its second year, as participants logged a total of 116.2 million steps – a distance equivalent to 2.2 times around the Earth – and 27,908 minutes of physical activity – equivalent to 19.4 days – in the challenge, which ended on Nov. 8.
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In keeping with the fall theme, participants earned colored leaves for each day that they met their walking or activity goals. Those who accumulated at least 60 minutes of activity, or 10,000 steps (about five miles), in a day earned a gold leaf.
Over the 42 days of the challenge, 40 participants had a perfect record of earning a gold leaf each day.
They are:
Sarah Ashley, Student Financial Services
Srikanth Beldona, Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management
Signe Bell, Center for Community Research and Service
Jennifer Biddle, School of Marine Science and Policy
Kelly Bothum, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology
Tracey Bryant, Communications and Public Affairs
James Cannon, IT-Network and Systems Services
Benjamin Chapman, Engineering
Kathy Corbitt, Employee Development and Wellbeing
Frederico Cruz, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Rosina Delp, Student Financial Services
Suzanne Deshong, University Finance
Blaze DiLuzio, IT-Network and Systems Services
Cynthia Doucette, IT-Management Information Services
April Doughty, Communications and Public Affairs
Jodi Drake, University Honors Program
Andrew Fields, Business and Economics, Finance
Patricia Fox, Business and Economics, Finance
Nathan Franklin, Student Financial Services
William Harris, Environmental Health and Safety
Colleen Hick, IT-Management Information Services
Alvita Kelly, Human Development and Family Studies
Michele Kleinhomer, Delaware Biotechnology Institute
Stas Kukulka, Ice Arenas
Robert Mann, IT-Network and Systems Services
Karen May, IT-Network and Systems Services
Janice McFarland, IT-Network and Systems Services
Mary Mohr, Office of the Registrar
Dawn Montgomery, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology
Catherine Painter, IT-Network and Systems Services
Jack Pollock, Center for Composite Materials
Bruce Raker, IT-Management Information Services
Richard Romanelli, IT-Network and Systems Services
Rachel Strickland, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology
Susan Sullivan, Education and Human Development, Office of the Dean
Faye Tew, IT-Network and Systems Services
Matthew Toner, Engineering
Theresa Vanderloo, Center for Community Research and Service
Jennifer Vu, Human Development and Family Studies
Toni Wall, Student Financial Services
Among these top finishers, Sarah Ashley and Patrick Devlin each accumulated more than one million steps during the challenge.
The team challenge also created excitement, with several teams trading off places in the top 10 from week to week. The final top 10 team finishers were:
1. Walking Dead
2. KKOTB
3. Put Some English on I.T.
4. UDPT
5. Finance Dury
6. Holy Walkamolies
7. Walk You Like a Hurricane
8. CCRS/SPPA Walkaholics
9. CSC Team
10. FIT Walkers
A similar challenge will run in the spring semester from March 21 to May 1, 2016, and will include an option to purchase a Fitbit wireless activity tracker.
Registration and more information will be available at the HealthyU Wellness website in early February.