Project Summary

To combat a precipitous drop in youth activity levels, the Snohomish County Health Leadership Coalition created Gear Up & Go!, an initiative designed to promote healthy habits among local elementary students by using an activity tracker to encourage them to exercise more. Nyhus launched the comprehensive initiative, helping it reach 28,000 students across 103 schools in Snohomish County, before successfully transitioning it into a community based self-sustaining model. Today the program continues to expand, applying the lessons it learned in Snohomish County and continuing to promote healthier lifestyles among kids in Anchorage, Seattle, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, Portland, Oregon, Montana and California.

Challenge

In order to engage students and monitor success, the initiative adopted the Sqord activity tracker, a wristband which converts physical activity into points and achievements in a computer game. This “gamification” encouraged students to stay active by competing amongst themselves and each other. Nyhus collaborated with Sqord and the Coalition to brand and design communication tools and develop the communications strategy with the program’s many stakeholders. This included the development of a website, interactive competition dashboards, newsletters, teacher surveys, social media strategy for participating teachers and coalition staff.

Results

• The program provided P.E. teachers from districts across the county a much-needed forum for sharing information and lessons learned throughout the school year.
• The program resulted in a 12.1% increase in student activity levels during the first year and a 15.9% increase in student activity levels during the following year.
• Students who regularly wore the Sqord fitness-tracking band had high activity levels. The more they wore the band, the more active they were.
• Previously inactive students who stuck with Gear Up & Go! increased their activity levels by 55 percent.
• Gear Up & Go! student engagement was effective across the economic strata, as there was no systematic association found between indicators of poverty and level of engagement in the program.