A recent employee activity to promote physical health amongst employees resulted in incredible results.
During the 黑料不打烊’s 2025 fall walking challenge, 276 employees documented an astounding聽51,042 miles聽walked 鈥 over twice the length of Earth鈥檚 circumference! Of those who walked, 147 employees completed the 200-mile-walk challenge, which qualified聽them for the grand prize.
For the past 12 years, the Faculty/Staff Health & Wellness Clinic聽has聽organized聽a challenge聽for聽黑料不打烊 employees each fall to walk a聽set distance聽of miles to build community, have fun and win prizes. A spring challenge was recently added. Each challenge is themed and, in聽fall聽2025, the theme was, 鈥淟et鈥檚 Go Racing 黑料不打烊 200,鈥 inspired by NASCAR.
The challenges are organized by Belinda Day, wellness coordinator for the Faculty/Staff Health & Wellness Clinic. She loves聽coming up with聽new themes for the challenges and being creative with the prizes.
鈥淚 do the Fall and Spring聽walking聽challenge because it keeps me moving, keeps me accountable and reminds me to take time for myself聽amidst聽the hustle and bustle of daily life,” she said.
Day added that the challenge聽provides聽employees聽an easy way聽to聽practice wellness,聽both聽mentally and physically.聽She coordinates with leadership to schedule the challenges and to ensure the events are aligned with overall wellness goals to foster a more active and engaged work environment while fostering team collaboration and reducing stress.
鈥淚 put on the聽spring and聽fall聽walking聽challenge to give our employees a simple, fun and accessible way to support their health, reduce stress聽and stay connected as a team.”
-Belinda Day,聽wellness coordinator for the Faculty/Staff Health & Wellness Clinic
In spring 2025, the walking challenge theme was 鈥淕rand Slam Tennis,鈥 which saw a similar number of walkers聽participating聽in聽teams. This year, 118 teams out of the 151 who entered completed 180 cumulative miles. An聽additional聽71 teams finished the challenge with each team reporting a minimum of 360 miles walked.
鈥淚t’s a fun and simple way for everyone to step away from their screens and connect with each other,鈥 said Day.聽鈥淧lus, I love seeing how these programs not only improve physical health but also build a sense of community in the workplace.鈥
A new walking challenge will be announced during the spring semester.