The Student Recreation Center kicked off its month-long Healthy Hornet Challenge on Feb 3 for Emporia State students, faculty and staff.
The challenge, aimed at developing healthy lifestyle choices through the seven dimensions of wellness, asks participants to perform specified actions that improve their seven dimensions of wellness, which translate into points. Participants record their earned points and submit them each week. By the end of the month, the number of points earned by each participant will correlate to a number of tickets entered into a raffle to win different prizes. According to the Healthy Hornet Challenge website, participants will have the opportunity to win a foam roller, a semester-long gym membership (or IM team voucher) or a portable blender.
“The ultimate goal of the initiative is not for it to be one event, but for it to just be a lifestyle change that we’re creating to give resources and help promote all students to have a healthier lifestyle,” said Assistant Director of Recreation Services Craig Turner.
One significant divergence from previous years is the greater number of campus resources and events. According to Turner, this was an intentional move to educate the ESU community about campus resources related to health.
“I’m glad that we can highlight all the different departments that we have on campus for student success,” said Turner. “I mean, our resources, I don’t know that people know how special what we have here is, and the great people that are running those departments.”
The challenge will also put on various wellness-related events hosted by campus organizations. Among other gatherings, the Counseling Center will host an event with information to promote mental health and Wellness Center services, Career Services will educate students on writing resumes and searching for jobs and internships and the Union Activities Council will connect students to various events around campus to boost social wellness. Attendance at designated events will earn participants more points.
“Everybody has pretty much played a part in this so far, and we’re pretty excited about where it can go,” Turner said.
Turner also notes that not every point-earning experience will be a “special event.” Even some normal campus activities will be included in the challenge, such as the fulfillment of social wellness needs by attending an ESU basketball game.
Director of Recreation Services Mike Wise hopes that ESU students use this challenge as an opportunity to consider the importance of a balanced lifestyle.
“If you look at today’s society, there’s a lot of people that don’t have balance in their life, and they’re unhappy about a lot of different things, and if one area is out of balance, then it makes you unhappy,” Wise said. “If you don’t have money, you’re unhappy. You don’t like your job, you’re unhappy…You know, all these different dimensions together, you need to take a look at and try to find balance in there.”
During the challenge, the SRC will post a weekly newsletter to provide tips and resources for improving different aspects of wellness. The recreation center has released a self assessment online to help Emporia community members evaluate their own wellness. Registration closes on Sunday, Feb. 9.