The School District of Palm Beach County put New Year’s resolutions of living a healthier lifestyle into action by encouraging students, staff and faculty to take part in the second annual WonderFit wellness challenge which kicked off on February 5, 2014 through March 4, 2014. WonderFit, a four-week competition, encouraged overall well-being through improved, consistent physical activity. The event was sponsored by The School District of Palm Beach County in partnership with BrightLife, UnitedHealthcare and Wells Fargo, and had wonderful results. This program is part of The School District of Palm Beach County’s comprehensive strategy to mitigate growing health care costs.
WonderFit’s inter-district competition has become an essential element of the event. Participants earned points by reaching their weekly exercise targets (18% increase from the previous year’s weekly submissions) and by completing bonus activities. The 2013-2014 bonus activities were very creative and compelling, including scavenger hunts, “desk-er-cises,” bike safety programs, fire-drill group walks, 5k fun runs, planking, classroom dance-offs, and a healthy breakfast aimed to raise money for the American Heart Association.
Click here to see a compilation of some of wonderful moments captured during the event.
WonderFit was a great success by each measurable standard. Thousands of teachers, administrators, and other personnel from over 241 schools and departments smashed every record set in the previous year (24% increase in registration from the 2012-2013 school year). Over the course of 28 days, participants logged at least 1,430,980 minutes of exercise, which included roughly 184,030 minutes of stretching, 1,071,690 minutes of aerobic exercise, and 175,260 minutes of strength training. There were 2,735 registrations and over 71,000 qualifying activities completed, equating roughly 1.4 million minutes of physical exercise. Ultimately, this data indicated that WonderFit encouraged more personnel to exercise consistently, rather than having the same personnel exercise more this year. This is a very positive sign from a healthcare cost-mitigation standpoint. This is just another way The School District of Palm Beach County is taking the initiative to become healthier through fun and exciting opportunities.
The 2014 WonderFit champion was Sandpiper Shores Elementary, followed by Allamanda Elementary. The 2013 winner, Benoist Farms Elementary, came in third place in 2014. The District would also like to acknowledge the top ranked individuals: Kate Abballe, Pam Ambrose, Amy Bermudez, Meg Betancourt, Alan Crescas, Beatrice Flaig, Edward Harris II, Glen Hoard, Dana Pallaria, Anthony Palmer, Terry Porter, Rebecca Ratto, Kimberly Rogers, Justin Roy, Morgan Schulman, Lois Smith, Steven Stefano and Michael Via. Congratulations to the 2014 Champions and everyone who participated! A big congratulations goes out to Sandpiper Shores Elementary - Cindy Menke (Wellness Champion) for winning in the team competition and was the highest champion with 80 registrations!
WonderFit is a successful event allowing employees to take control of their health and form healthy habits in a fun and competitive way and is a wonderful method to get the community moving. As the department strives to inspire employees to take personal responsibility for their health, it is exciting to see people getting fit and feeling wonderful. The event provides a nudge towards healthier lifestyles which everyone can benefit from. The results from the 2013-2014 school year were inspiring. The year to year progress indicates that something very special is happening here.
To learn more about the District’s WonderFit Program visit http://www.wonderfit.org/
“It is like doing this together. I have a friend to report to. That gives me encouragement.”
“The program helped me to be focused in my personal health goals and achieve them. It also became a huge challenge that pushed me beyond some physical limits since I had to introduce drastic changes in my daily routine that was characterized by a sedentary life style. I am not stopping here, but having an accountability system helps me even more. I will miss my weekly reports.”
“I love competition! I like that we can see each week how our school rates compared to the other departments.”
“It challenged me to do what I already know I should be doing for my wellness but don't always do.”
