Last Wednesday, several colleagues and I planned the first of what will be many “wellness walks”.  At first, I’ll admit, my motivation to lead the walk was selfish. I was interested in earning some extra Your Plan for Health (YP4H) points, a reward system through our health insurance provider to encourage healthy living. I currently have about 1400 points, with the goal of reaching 2000 points, the tier at which one earns a $75 Amazon gift card! During the walk, however, I was surprised to hear a steady chatter among colleagues that normally might not have exchanged more than the usual pleasantries had we stayed in our office.

Left to right: Liz Derr, Laura Thomas, Anna Wolf, Tara Koger, Karen MacBeth, and David Brauer on the Oval.

So, in addition to the obvious benefits of a walk (i.e., fresh air, stress relief, exercise) and the YP4H points, the wellness walkboosted collegiality between participating staff…and we have the photos to prove it! We strolled around the Oval, Thompson Library, and along Mirror Lake. We also stopped into Hagerty Hall to check out the foreign language department’s new collaborative work area called “The Space”.

Left to right: Laura Thomas, David Brauer, Tara Koger, Anna Wolf, Karen MacBeth, and Ivan Stefano at Mirror Lake. We look well, don’t we?

Only five minutes into the walk, Ivan exclaimed, “This is fun! We should do this again!” I couldn’t agree more. As long as the weather cooperates we will be planning weekly wellness walks. I hope you’ll consider joining us!

We will meet in 060 Arps Hall for our next Wellness Walk on November 1 at 3:30 pm.