The team reached its daily step goal by hosting meetings while walking and talking when possible. “Every day during the month of December, someone from our department brings in cookies. That is a lot of cookies! So in January, we all like to get more active and leave behind the cookies in favor of steps,” said Kim Manturuk, Ph.D, a program evaluator at Duke’s Center for Instructional Technology (CIT). The sweet inspiration for the name came from a common workplace diet foe: brought-in treats. “It was nice to see just how many steps I took each day while the challenge was going on.”
“I have done this challenge for four years now and have met some great people through it,” Tyler Lee said. Lee was inspired to start the team after she invited colleagues to attend a nutrition presentation entitled “Forks & Feet” (see above photo) given by her sister Jordan Lee, a doctoral student studying human movement science at UNC-Chapel Hill. “I work in the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences where there are some very smart and incredibly talented individuals, certainly not the kind who you’d call simpleminded,” said Tyler Lee, a staff specialist. The team’s brain-related work inspired the name. Though the term “bird brain” is typically an insult, that wasn’t the impetus behind this team’s moniker. “This is an easy way to keep fitness on the forefront of your mind,” McNair said, noting that members of her team reached a goal of 10,000 steps in all sorts of ways, including walking, playing tennis and even hula hooping while watching television. “Our experiments, we call them assays,” said McNair, who has joined the challenge each of her four years at Duke. you know, so the name seemed a perfect fit for the Duke Human Vaccine Institute team led by Tara McNair, a lab research analyst 1 who’s been with Duke for four years. “My primary activity is increasing the number of hours spent taking Latin Dance classes,” said Broz, who has participated in the challenge at least four years.Īn assay is defined as an investigative laboratory procedure and a play on. Members participated in various activities to reach 10,000 steps daily, such as taking daily team walks. Team members, all part of the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute, work in the Carmichael Building, a relatively new building in downtown Durham’s “Innovation District,” and Crazies is an homage to Duke Basketball, said Sarah Broz, a staff assistant at the Institute. The Carmichael Crazies looked to their workspace and college sports for team name inspiration. Hutchinson said a chaplain’s duties call for special attention to the body-mind connection, since chaplains need to care for themselves in order to serve others. Hutchinson said team members worked independently, logging daily steps through activities like walking, running and taking aerobics. “It brings the department together in a new way.” “We were Chiseled Chaplains because we’re trying to be fit,” said Zach Hutchinson, of Duke University Hospital’s pastoral services department and team captain. The Chiseled Chaplains team is comprised of, you guessed it, chaplains.
Winners of the 2017 Get Moving Challenge were announced this week.įor now, here are some of favorite team names: Gambill's Get Moving SecretĬoming up with a team name was one part of the annual competition that saw nearly 2,400 staff and faculty across the University vying to take the most steps, exercise the most minutes and lose the most weight. She kept striding toward victory with the most steps and minutes of exercise. Vacation didn't slow down Duke Orthopaedics’ Cara Gambill.
#RUNNING CHALLENGE NAMES CRACK#
“I get to read all the names and I just crack up,” said Nicholas Beresic, health promotion manager with LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke's employee wellness program and host of the 10-week fitness and wellness challenge. “Chiseled Chaplains.” “Move Your Assays.” “Mission Slimpossible.” “Phat Pharm.”ĭuke’s Get Moving Challenge got bodies moving and minds going as participants got creative with team names in the annual challenge that drew 241 teams to this year's competition.