Clara Mora-Granados is a promoter of the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge and explained it as “a project focused on promoting a healthier lifestyle among NEIU students and also promoting Campus Recreation Center, which is actually the institution developing this project. In it, we approach different matters, all related to a healthy way of life.”

With it, the students that have already chosen to carry out a healthy lifestyle are able to make the most out of the challenge by using all of the facilities and activities that the P.E. Complex has to offer. For those students who believe their lifestyle is not healthy enough can get to know and be well informed about all the benefits that a healthier way of life would provide them, so that they start to get interested about having healthier habits.

 The project focuses on a different “healthy challenge” each week.

“We are going to make it along eight weeks, focusing not only on sports related  matters, but also on health in a more general way, informing about issues such as eating and drinking habits, daily intake of calories, before and after-workout routines,” Mora-Granados said.

The release of the weekly challenges is mostly communicated through social media, and they always focus on the participation of students, on engaging them to the challenge and eventually, to a healthy lifestyle. For every weekly challenge, promoters upload to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram what they call “did you know facts,” pictures, videos and interesting articles or websites related to the weekly challenge.

Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge promoters stand in the Student Union informing people about the challenge and about all the facilities that they can make use of in the P. E. Complex, such as classes, fitness centers, courts and fields.

The challenges that have already been promoted are: “Eat a healthy breakfast” in week one, “Get moving” during week two and “Stay hydrated” in the third week of the campaign. All of them have a common goal: help get people to participate.

Anyone who wants to get engaged in the challenge can upload a picture to their personal social media (snapchat being the most popular among the participants) related to the challenge of the week, using the #HealthyLifestyleChallenge plus the one of the weekly challenges.

“It has had a really good reception among the students,” Mora-Granados said. “There was a clear need of a more regular activity like this in Campus Recreation social media, and the good thing is that we have taken advantage of the current power of social media in order to promote the campaign.”

By doing this, the participants are eligible to win prizes, such as glasses, keychains, flip-flops or even $10 discount at Folletts bookstore. All these prizes must be collected physically at the P.E. Complex, which is another way to promote it.

Depending on the success of the campaign, Mora-Granados said there may be more promotions in the future.

“At the moment we are focusing on finishing these eight weeks of campaign, planning each weekly challenge by taking into account the feedback that we receive from participants and students,” Mora-Granados said. “We have not yet considered the possibility of releasing a new campaign, or make this one last longer. However, given the good welcome that students have made to this challenge it is highly probable that if we get engaged in another promoting campaign we will use the same promotion methods that we have used for Healthy Lifestyle Challenge”.

So far, many students have decided to start a healthier lifestyle due to the challenge’s effect, and they now know that they can easily get to the P.E Complex and start moving while they learn healthy lifestyle tips following the Challenge’s social media. Each day, the Challenge is getting more and more popular among NEIU students. What will next week’s challenges be? Be aware of social media, stay tuned!