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Hokie Feature: Student Affairs 2020 Well-Being Award

Congratulations to Kelly McPherson (Event Coordinator) and Will Trent (Marketing Manager) on recently being honored with The Student Affairs Well-Being Award in 2020! 

The award is awarded to a Student Affairs employee or group that has created an environment or experience that promotes well-being and encourages success in others and centers on a sense of purpose, physical and emotional well-being, supportive relationships, financial security, and/or community satisfaction.

Below is Kelly and Will's nomination written by Alan Glick, Rec Sports Assistant Director:

I am very pleased to write this nomination letter in support of Will Trent and Kelly McPherson for all of their work in creating "Rec Sports-Virtual", an online platform that brought together a collection of Recreational Sports virtual fitness and wellness offerings for all members of the Virginia Tech community.  This important initiative followed the end of Spring Break when students, faculty and staff had to transition to on-line learning for the remainder of the semester due to COVID-19.  

Will and Kelly immediately got to work, in conjunction with many of the program area directors in our department, to put into practice the common ideology that "moving more matters" never stops, with an open invitation to the university community to "stay active with us wherever the remainder of this challenging semester finds you."  Within just a few days of the university's transition to online learning, Will and Kelly created, and began marketing the "Rec Sports-Virtual" site, a platform that brings together a wide range of virtual health and wellness programs created by members of the Recreational Sports staff that encourages all members of the university community to stay active and healthy.  Many of these programs have continued through the summer months, and includes:  The Virtual 3.2 Run in Remembrance; 2-week Running Programs; Hokie Fit Online Training; Les Mills On Demand; Employee Movement Club; the Finals Week Hokie Movement Challenge; and the Rec Sports Virtual Escape Room.  All of these offerings were designed to be virtual opportunities for people to continue to stay connected to the Recreational Sports Department, the university and each other, while we remain physically separated.  

Will and Kelly put in a great deal of work to make all of this happen, with the primary goal of keeping students and staff engaged, active and healthy in these stressful and uncertain times.  The participation numbers for these virtual programs have been impressive and heartening.  The Virtual 3.2 Run in Remembrance saw 11,500 people (students, staff, alumni and friends) register online to take part from locations literally from around the world; together, 81,628 miles were virtually logged in memory of our 32 fellow Hokies.  To have such an important university event be cancelled just a few weeks prior to the April date initially seemed surreal, but Will and Kelly worked incredibly hard with the other event organizers from our department to quickly convert the Run into a virtual event and promote it through social media.  To have more than 11,000 participants was amazing.  

The 2-Week Running Programs, (Beginner & Intermediate programs) organized by our fitness staff, took place in the weeks leading up to the 3.2 Run in Remembrance and registered 1,162 clicks on the Rec Sports website.  The program included a 14-day training schedule to help prepare people to run a 5K.  The Hokie Fit Online Training Program, a free offering to all students, staff and other members of the university community, has to date generated 2,031 website clicks.  The Hokie Fit Online program, also offered by our fitness staff, offers free workout plans from the Recreational Sports student Fitness Trainers.  Designed for all levels of fitness, the program offers virtual coaching and a variety of workout routines that includes strength and endurance training. Instructional videos are provided for each workout, in addition to a private Facebook group where participants can ask questions of the trainers about the workout routines.  

Another online offering that Will and Kelly worked with the fitness staff to make available online was Les Mills on Demand, an extensive program of more than 100 different workouts spanning 10 categories (including programs such as BODYPUMP, BODYFLOW and BODYSTEP).  Since group exercise classes were suspended for the semester, all of the Les Mills workout videos were made available for no charge to participants, and will remain no charge for as long as the COVID-19 situation continues.  The Les Mills offerings have so far generated 3,609 clicks on our website.  

The Employee Movement Club, another Rec Sports-Virtual offering, is a summer movement initiative where members engage virtually through a free exercise app called Strava to log workouts, encourage each other, and compete in various fitness challenges.  190 university employees signed up for the Employee Movement Club, resulting in many testimonials about the impact this program has had on participant's sense of health and wellness.  One person has to date lost 20 pounds since joining the club and no longer needs to take blood pressure medication thanks to their weight loss and exercise routine started during the summer as a direct result of joining the Employee Movement Club.  Club members receive a weekly email that sends encouragement, explains the daily and weekly challenges and announces weekly prize winners.  The club was designed for all skill levels and abilities.  

Kelly also put together the Rec Sports Virtual Escape Room, where participants are tested on their knowledge of VT trivia to save HokieBird.  At last count, 175 people have successfully completed the virtual escape room since it opened on the Rec Sports-Virtual platform on July 1.  Will and Kelly also worked with our Intramural Sports staff to put together "IM Trivia Nights" via Zoom, which took place over six weeks of the summer, attracting 30-40 people each week.  

An additional program that Will and Kelly helped to organize and promote with our fitness staff was the Finals Week Hokie Movement Challenge, with the goal of encouraging students to add movement into their daily schedule each day of finals week.  885 workouts were submitted to our website.  A variety of movement opportunities were provided throughout finals week on social media.  "Color Virginia Tech" was also offered as a part of the challenge, a coloring page featuring the Virginia Tech campus that encouraged students to break out their crayons or markers and take a finals week mindfulness break by showing off their coloring skills.  

As you can see, the list of Rec Sports-Virtual programs is a long one, and a testament to the hard work and dedication of Will and Kelly to quickly create a platform that has been able to effectively promote and support the programs of Recreational Sports functional areas.  Even though everyone's world was turned upside-down in what seemed like a moment, when COVID-19 decisions were being made by the university on what seemed like a daily basis, Will and Kelly were able to take a deep breath and focus on what we could do as a department to keep the Virginia Tech community active, healthy (physically and mentally) and engaged with us and with each other.  I believe that what they were able to accomplish for the benefit of the university community in such a short period of time was both impressive and incredibly important to many people within the university community.  

Recreational Sports is an amazing department to be a part of, comprised of dedicated professionals who believe in the value of exercise, sport, wellness and developing healthy life choices.  Will and Kelly are outstanding examples of this commitment to creating opportunities for people to live the healthiest life they can, even during a time of physical separation and social distancing.  I believe that they are very deserving of the Well-Being Award for all of the work they have done to create and promote the Rec Sports-Virtual platform.  Thank you for your consideration.