On Monday May 18, The Columbus Research Foundation, the Muscogee County School District (MCSD) and the council of PTAs held an awards ceremony to honor Arnold Magnet Academy in Columbus, GA—winners of the Be Well Columbus Project. Awards and monetary prizes were given to the winning homerooms, top participants and the schools with most participation.

 

The Be Well Columbus Project is a pilot project that was instituted through MCSD 7^th graders and was made possible by a grant the Columbus Research Foundation received from the Microsoft HealthVault Be Well Fund.  During the three-month period from January 17 until April 24, 2009, participating students were encouraged to increase their physical activity as they took a virtual walk across the United States and to check their daily meal, snack and drink intake.  This data was logged on the Be Well Columbus, Georgia/Walk to Microsoftwebsite, which was developed specifically for this project.  The virtual walk ended at Bellevue, Washington, home of Microsoft HealthVault, and each participant of the first homeroom to “arrive” has received a Wii, Wii Fit and a game of their choice.  The overall goal of the project was to teach and instill healthy lifestyle choices in the area’s adolescents, thereby preventing diabetes and other metabolic disorders associated with being overweight.