History teacher Ty Harris helps prepare staff members Bethany Speed and Nikki Sesock for a cardio exercise as part of Oakton's Wellness Week. The week-long program is designed to encourage staff members to live healthier by simply adding a few healthy routines to their day.
The start of November kicked off Oakton High School’s first ever Wellness Week, designed to showcase the importance of daily exercise and nutrition through activities for the school’s staff.
“We thought it would be nice for the staff, as well as build a little motivation and excitement, to [have] a whole week of fun while getting healthy,” said Ellen Reilly, Assistant Principal.
Reilly and her Administrative Assistant Beth Speed undertook the planning and coordination of the many activities during Wellness Week, making sure every day there was a focus on exercise and nutrition.
“Each day we have something to spotlight,” Reilly said, “[including] healthy breakfasts and lunches,” “daily fitness questions” and “personal trainers donating their time.”
The event that has resulted in the most participation is the fitness challenge, as it encourages friendly competition between various departments.
“We started it off with a fitness challenge,” Speed said. “Each department put together a team and chose a team leader. We issued pedometers provided to us by the Fairfax County Schools Wellness Program and we’re logging the steps walked or miles walked everyday. And at the end of the week the team with the highest average wins.”
Staff comradery, one of the main goals of Wellness Week, has been one of the many positives aspects seen by Reilly.
“Everybody’s mostly having fun with it, especially with the pedometer [challenge],” Reilly said. “You see teachers dancing in line while getting their lunches. Some say it’s made them more aware [of health and fitness]. Everybody seems to enjoy it.”
Not only is the staff participating in the challenges, but other teachers have volunteered to host yoga, personal fitness and CPR classes. Megan Hunter, a History teacher, has been releasing a Get Fit newsletter that she compiles and designs, emailing it to the staff daily.
“I created the Get Fit newsletters with little tidbits of health information, recipes, and just general ‘get inspired’ information,” said Hunter. “I’ve gotten positive emails and comments from other staff members who say they really enjoy it, especially getting new, healthy recipes for the holiday season.”
The success of Wellness Week with Oakton staff may next be promoted to the student body.
“We’re looking to actually learn from it, expand it and figure out what works and what doesn’t work,” Speed said. “Eventually we’d like to see it filter down to the students as well, and for us to be good role models for health and fitness .”
Wellness Week has evoked an enthusiastic response from the staff. Beth Blankenship, an English teacher, is especially motivated for her department to succeed in the fitness challenge.
“Wellness Week Rocks,” Blankenship said. “I’m determined that English is going to win [the fitness challenge] so instead of lifting weights I’ve been running everyday and trying to help English get over the top. And having yummy food is always a good thing, although I do miss chocolate. They need some healthy chocolate, that’s my only complaint.”
