WELLWVU summer fitness challenge comes to a close

For the first time last summer, West Virginia University’s WELLWVU: The Students’ Center of Health offered a program to help students stay fit.

The challenge was an opportunity for students to stay connected to their health habits and to WELLWVU by participating in at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day for a 100-day period.

Every week from May 7 through August 15, students submitted the number of minutes they had been active, and those students who were currently enrolled at WVU and accumulated at least 3,000 minutes (an average of 30 minutes per day for 100 days) were entered into a drawing for a chance to win a gift card.

WELLWVU and the moveWELL summer challenge program’s main goal was to educate students about how to stay active through creative exercise.

Program Coordinator and Wellness Graduate Assistant Carina Bode said she felt honored to be a part of the moveWELL program.

"It was really encouraging to be able to communicate with the students about their journeys to better health," Bode said. "Students would often email me telling me how grateful they were for the challenge."

Some students who participated even emailed Bode to say thanks.

"For a lot of people it served as motivation to keep going or an inspiration to try something new, and I’m really proud to have been a part of that for someone’s life," Bode said.

One student, Cody Johnson, said summer time is the time he focuses on controlling his weight and eating healthy instead of eating unhealthy foods late at night at all hours of the morning.

"Before this summer started, I told myself that I would keep active and avoid as much of the unhealthy foods as possible," Johnson said. "When the moveWELL challenge came up, I knew this would be a great way to keep that promise to myself."

Hannah Lilly, Another student who participated in this summer challenge, said even though she didn’t lose a lot of weight, this program has inspired her to keep up with her diet for the fall semester.

"Because I got involved in this program, I am stronger and more athletic than I’ve been in years," Lilly said.

Although the moveWELL challenge is over for the year, WELLWVU still encourages students to keep finding fun, new ways to get active and stay motivated through exercise.

Director of the Office of Wellness and Health Programs Colleen Harshbarger said she has enjoyed her involvement in the program.

"Being the Director of OWHP provides a unique opportunity to positively impact student lives and to educate our campus community about what it means to live WELL," she said.

WELLWVU encourages returning students and new faces on campus to get started into a healthy lifestyle now.

On Oct. 6, WELLWVU will be having a Try-It Event that showcases some of the services WVU has to offer.

"Start habits now that will help you live well for the entire school year," Bode said. "Sleep, nutrition, exercise, stress management, sexual health and alcohol consumption all need to be in a healthy balance in order to live well."

This summer, there were a total of 45 participants in the program, and 23 moveWEll students met the challenge.

For more information about WELLWVU, visit http://www.well.wvu.edu.