2016 Go Move Challenge: Summary

The University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, Marquette University, Creighton University, Gonzaga University, Seattle University and College of the Holy Cross have been remarkably active this past month. Faculty, staff, and trustees from these universities have been tracking every minute of their intentional, physical movement in the fourth annual Go Move Challenge.

The results are in! Congratulations to returning winner, Loyola Marymount University, who accumulated the most minutes of movement and the most minutes of movement per participant, and to University of San Francisco, who had the highest percentage of participating faculty, staff and trustees!

Most importantly, congratulations to all eight universities for participating in this heart-healthy competition. Check out the exercise achievements as a whole!

Newcomer, Gonzaga University, embraced Go Move from the start, customizing their challenge t-shirts to reflect their university's spirit of wellness. Gonzaga's Benefits Manager, Lisa Schwartzenburg, said, "we look forward to future challenges and getting more GU faculty and staff involved." The 240 Gonzaga employees who participated in the challenge exercised an average of 43 minutes per day — impressive!

Several departments at Creighton University created motivational flyers and weekly email reminders to keep participants engaged and moving all month long. Wellness Director, Amber Benda, said that Creighton's employees "encouraged each other to get moving" through walking meetings, lunchtime gym sessions on campus, and more breaks during the workday. Many employees expressed appreciation for the extra motivation to exercise during one of their coldest months!

For Santa Clara University, the Go Move Challenge each February has "become a ritual" as employees continue to "look forward to it" and are "more aware of their daily exercise," says Debby Merryman, the university's Health and Wellness Program Administrator. "They continue to find new and exciting ways to get their daily minutes of exercise."

Marquette University increased their number of participants from 44 to 155 this year and logged over 130,000 minutes of exercise! Their wellness program coordinator, Kristin Kipp, said, "overall, employees felt that this challenge really motivated them to move more and created a sense of camaraderie during the group activities that were hosted on campus," including weekly raffles, department competitions, workouts sponsored by their Naval ROTC and Men's Lacrosse Team, and participation from their President and Provost.

The University of San Francisco continued to focus on daily movement opportunities at lunchtime, including weekly walks led by the leadership team, Irish and Kathak specialty dance classes taught by staff members, and an ROTC boot camp for both physical and mental stimulation. The importance of physical wellness starts from the top at the university and emanates outward to the entire community. Besides doing yoga "every morning for about 20 minutes," President Father Paul Fitzgerald uses the university's health and recreation center, Koret, regularly. "It’s a beautiful center and I lift weights and I do cardio, so I keep myself in shape and that way I sleep better, I eat better, it’s a good thing to do." During one of the leadership team walks, Judy Karshmer, the university's Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions, said "USF is a heart-healthy campus, and I think it’s a great opportunity for us to do something together that’s good for us individually and collectively." Besides increasing physical fitness, USF considers Go Move's employee engagement the most important outcome and appreciates the increased 563 players this year!

If you’re interested in joining the Go Move Challenge in 2017, please contact Suzy Kisylia, Wellness Program Manager for the University of San Francisco.