With the Live Well Be Well and Healthy Workforce partnership, the Go KP Summer Games Team Challenge encouraged teams of at least four or more participants to become more active together. This summer, we had four Mid-Atlantic States teams place nationally at number one and one team place number two! In total, the top six MAS teams were recognized with Summer Games ceremonies complimented with Olympic style music and fanfare as teams were presented with their award medals. See the winning team photos below and learn about how the top MAS teams did it!
1st Place MAS and National – Rock the Plank (Regional Office) (pictured above)
Abby Chough
Iris Von Palubitzki
Beth Audet
Charles Harriman
Pam Ferraro
1st Place MAS and National – NOVA Kaizen (mixed NOVA Service Area)
Scott Segal
Denise Anthony
Amardeep Athwal
Naga Vejalla
Kathy Haslam
Angela Lyles
1st Place MAS and National – Team Daffodil (Towson)
Jean Smink
Brenda Hinberg
Jezebel Sexton
Tiana Smith
Thresea Clelland
1st Place MAS and National – The Midnight Run (South Baltimore)
Mark McCumber
Antoine Watson
Elefteria Sarioglou
Amber Poole
2nd Place MAS and 3rd Place National – New Mother Nature Taking Over (Regional Office)
James Geist
Annie Phu
Carol Wright
Fatmata Sillah
Francisco Ayala
Isabel Lamothe
Isata Roberts
Alena Vidlakova
Jason Wennet
Jessica Galindo
Kristin Torkelsen
Leila Dion
Nelly Alarcon
Stephanie Waszkiewicz
3rd Place MAS – Camp Spring Thrivers (Camp Springs)
Chanell Stewart
Andrea Davis
Alexis Henderson
Chris Mbah
Edna Lowe-Martin
Frederick Asamoah
Lisa Robinson
Najwa Brown
Uwaoma Onyebuenyi
When asked about the key to their success, members of the winning team stated, “We had so much fun thriving to be healthy together.” Other members said, “have a goal, find something fun for you, find a partner, and keep going!”
Each team either kept their original members from the previous years or scouted for new dedicated and consistent individuals to join. “We were very selective, yet trusted people and kept it fun,” according to the NOVA Kaizen team. A special kudos to this team because for the first time ever, they made their group an inclusive team of Labor, Management and MAPMG, which was an awesome display of our KP inclusion mission.
Teams participated in an array of different physical activities to earn either minutes or steps during the challenge. Activities enjoyed by winning teams included yoga and Zumba classes, walking with their families or pets, swimming, running marathons, and some even incorporated gaming technology, like Nintendo Wii Systems to get their “thrive on.” Other teams used our very own free KP offered on-demand wellness platform, BurnAlong, which allowed them to take dance and other fitness classes.
Dr. Fred from the Camp Springers team set a goal of 12,000 steps a day to never miss a day of Summer Games Challenge. The New Mother Nature Taking Over team had a “path of righteousness” they walked consistently while at work. Nelly, a member of their team, usually participates in a 5k walk. This team also doubled in participants, from 7 last year to 14 this year.
Despite the different talents, passions and personalities on each team, they were still able to work together and support each other to become the top winning teams. Members of The Midnight Run team had different morning/night shifts and didn’t let their alternate work schedules slow them down. They remained in touch daily to follow-up and make sure each member logged in their points. Some teams thought out of the box by doing Fitbit challenges to connect them while they were away and to remain motivated with each other. Elefteria from this team had a Bachelorette week in Miami in June, in which she made all her bridesmaids walk everywhere to get her steps in.
Rock the Plank was a team of majority remote members, which can make it hard to motivate each other. Instead, this team took advantage of the communications platforms such as, the Go KP chat feature and Microsoft Teams. They also decided to take their skills a step further by mentoring a team next year throughout the process to give back to the KP community and bring more MAS teams to the top.
Rock the Plank has pledged to continue participating in Go KP Summer Challenges until they retire. If you would like the Rock the Plank team to mentor your team next year, please reach out to Wafa Taher.
During the ceremony, teams were asked to give their advice to teams seeking to be on top next year. The winning teams shared the following ‘words of wisdom’:
- Anyone wanting to join your team, share the guidelines and challenge information to them prior to accepting them. This would be like a contract, where they agree to put points into the system daily.
- Participate in Fitbit Challenges with your team- that way everyone has points for the day.
- Use the device connection feature to connect your Fitbit to the platform so you don’t have to remember to log your steps.
- Use whatever communication method works for you and the team- set this in the beginning of the challenge. Some options to consider include the Go KP chat feature, email threads, Microsoft Teams, Snapchat, group text messages, in person meetings, etc.
- Take a break during work and do a stretch break, go the fitness center, go walking outdoors or on the stairwell to earn your daily points.
- Have the stretch notification on your computer enabled- IT can install it for you.
- Encourage and support each other, especially if someone is having a low activity day. Remember, this is a team effort challenge.
