High school staff stomps walking goal
Walk Across America Challenge raises staff wellness

High school staff participating in the Walk Across America challenge exceeded their walking goal in less than two months, and they’re still walking!

“This activity has made me much more aware of moving it every day. And it's kind of fun to compete with myself each day to see if I can get a few more steps than the day before,” said Susanne Fitzgerald

Eight areas of wellness were surveyed at the high school last year as part of the school health index: school health and safety policies and environment, health education, physical education and other physical activity programs, nutrition services, school health services, school counseling, psychological, and social services, health promotion for staff, and family and community involvement. After completing the survey, staff applied for a grant to address some of the areas where the high school didn’t measure up.

The high school scored lowest in promoting staff health and received a $1,000 grant in that area. The grant was used to purchase pedometers and t-shirts for the 56 staff members that were interested in participating in our Walk Across America challenge. Each participating staff member wears a pedometer and records his or her steps each week and reports the total. Everyone's results are added together for a group total. For each million steps walked, a marker is moved from one coast toward another on a map of the United States. The goal at GHS was 28 million steps, which the staff exceeded in only nine weeks.

The experience has been very motivating and rewarding for a lot of members, although Sandy Sacerio did jokingly admit, "I have discovered that it is easier to walk many miles than it is to keep a pedometer working."