WAT! Adult - College Edition WALK Newsletter #7 – April 19th, 2022

W – WOW: 2022 TAMU College Edition Close-Out

Let’s put a bow on it…this message marks our final official communication as part of the WAT! Adult – College Edition. 

We started this project with the goal to reach a college audience! In 2021, the average age for WAT! Adult program participants was 45 years. The 18 – 23 age group comprised of only 6% of participants. 

This project intended to use new tactics and resources to target a younger audience. Preliminary results highlight success with the recruitment of the intended audience. The average age of WAT! Adult – College Edition participants was 33 years (18 – 23 age group = 50%).

Thank you for joining us in the first pilot! 

To add the finishing touches to this challenge, here are a few numbers to sum up the WAT! Adult – College Edition effort:

We reached 185 participants with 20,411.3 miles reported (87% reporting mileage)! 

Congratulations to the winners of the random drawing for the completion of the program wrap-up form and College Edition participant survey: 

Participant Survey: Karen M.G. 

Wrap – Up Survey: Kaed G. 

A – Action

Here are upcoming selected events: 

The Local @ Lake Walk – In-Person – Tuesdays (04/19 – 05/24) from 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Click the link for more info

Creative Corner – Virtual – Wednesday (04/20) at 2:00 PM – Click the link to register

*Brazos County Event* 2022 Brazos County Closing Ceremony – Virtual – Thursday (04/21) at 12:10 PM – Click the link to watch on FB Live (no account needed)

THE 5KAN FUN RUN – In-Person – Sunday (04/24) at 8:30 AM – Click the link to register

The Ags REACH Project Annual Health Fair – In-Person – Sunday (04/24) from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM at the Brazos County Health District 

BTHO Stress: Aggie Health Hut – In-Person – Tuesday (04/26) from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Click to learn more

Healing With Friends: Trauma-Informed Yoga Class – In-Person & Virtual – Thursday (04/28) from 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM – Click to learn more

L – Final Leaderboard

K – Knowledge – Graduation

Wouldn’t it be awesome if good health were a destination? ...if there were a final marker that you could point to and say, “this is it…I did it!”. Obviously, the completion of a program is a kind of destination. You can be proud of the fact you participated for a full 8 weeks of WAT! Heck, you can be proud of the fact that you signed up and took the steps just to start with WAT!

Every journey starts with one step at a time! Still, the fact is that good health doesn’t just happen, and then you are done. We must all work continually to practice healthy habits. We know that seven out of the ten leading causes of death are directly related to what we eat and what we do. If there were a pill you could take to prevent premature death, you would probably do it, right? An easy, free “prescription” we can all “take” for good health is 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity on most days of the week. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?!? The trick is being intentional and consistent long term. We want to close out this program by offering a strong recommendation – based on research – saying that we hope you will keep on keeping on. Whether it is another WAT! program, another AgriLife Extension program, or any other challenge anywhere else, or on your own, we hope you keep it up! We are cheering for you and your health!

So, with that, you are officially graduated from the WAT! Adult program – College Edition! While this graduation will not be as exciting as your or your fellow team member’s graduation from Texas A&M University, we hope that you enjoyed all the College Edition resources and information. As you move forward in your academic career, be mindful of the critical messages that you received over the past weeks! 

As part of this process, we thank you for your insight into which program components were the most successful for you and your team. That way, we can revise and update the materials to conduct other WAT! Adult - College Edition programs at Texas A&M University and replicate it at other institutions.

We’d like to give you a virtual round of applause and thank YOU for your participation! 

Thanks and Gig ‘Em