Competition Gets Students Moving

Vijay Jain ’11 is not the type to rely on a shuttle for his trip to class in the morning. The Mather House resident said he prefers to walk the half-mile distance from his dorm to the Yard.

“Walking is a great way to get me fresh and ready for the day,” Jain said.

This week, Jain’s preference for walking may have a special payoff—and even a massage. The sophomore is one of nearly 80 participants in the Go Green for Your Health Inter-House Walking Competition, sponsored by the College’s Community Health Initiative.

Beginning this morning and ending Thursday, Jain and fellow participants will be encouraged to walk as much as possible—whether it’s just to class or recreationally. The house with the most distance logged—as measured by a pedometer—by its walkers at the end of the week will win a “green study break” this semester, furnished by the Food Literacy Project, and a massage.

The walking initiative, which came about as a way to align the campus’s environmental well-being with community health, is a part of Sustainability Week. Organizers hope that more walking will drive home the possibility of avoiding fuel-burning transportation.

“We just want people to walk as much as possible,” CHI Co-Director Alan Y, Chou ’10 said. “It’s great exercise; there’s no expensive equipment involved. It’s essential for daily living, and it helps to reduce emissions and pollution. It’s an ‘everybody wins’ situation.”

CHI distributed pedometers yesterday and said it plans to continue doing so this morning.

But the competition may not be spurring house rivalry to the degree that CHI anticipated. The organization’s goal was to have 10 to 15 walkers per house, and while Currier and Kirkland each have 12 walkers, some houses appear to be falling considerably short of the target.

Turnout aside, University Health Services’ Interim Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Jeanne M. Mahon, who also advises CHI, said this week’s competition could have long-term benefits.

“We’re trying to get people more aware of walking, getting outside, and connecting it back to the environment,” she said. “One of the points is to develop lifelong habits now in college to carry on in the future.”

For William R. Rose ’11, the competition’s potential implications are not nearly as far-reaching. But his outlook may have to do with his location—Rose resides in Adams House, across the street from the Yard, and would not be tempted by the shuttle service.

“I doubt it’ll make a significant change in the amount of walking I do,” he said.

Since pedometers are being used to track participants’ distances, organizers acknowledged that cheating could be a problem during the competition. Pedometers are sensitive to any up-and-down motion, so particularly willful participants could simply shake their pedometers to log “steps.”

But if lust for the study break prize threatens to reach such levels, then Rose has a better alternative.

“Advice to the House that wants to win—get all their runners to do it,” he said. “And go for 20-mile runs.”

—Staff writer Ahmed N. Mabruk can be reached at amabruk@fas.harvard.edu.