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Craig Poole, captain of sponsored programs accounting’s Mile Markers walking team, and Mary Stoffel, captain of general accounting’s Fast Feet team, mug for the camera in front of a map that charts each team’s progress. The two departments, which are both on the fourth floor of the administration building, are competing to see which will amass the most steps during the UNMC 1 Million Step Challenge. |
The two departments, who share the fourth floor of the UNMC administration building, have split into two teams and are trying to out step each other during the virtual trek across Nebraska.
“Because we have two departments on the same floor, there’s always been a good-natured rivalry between us,” said Craig Poole, captain of sponsored programs’ Mile Markers team. “This challenge has been a fun and healthy way for us to engage in that rivalry.”
Through July, the Mile Markers team had accumulated 5,864, 416 steps, outpacing the Fast Feat, who had amassed 4,635,316 in the same time span.
But, Fast Feet captain Mary Stoffel would have you know her team is at a slight disadvantage, having only seven walkers to Mile Markers’ nine.
“Our walkers are doing really well and several of us already are approaching 1 million steps,” Stoffel said. (Editor’s Note: On the milestone list below, one general accounting employee has reached 1 million steps and three others have surpassed the 750,000 step mark.)
The two teams track their total progress on a national map. In late July, a green string representing the Mile Markers stretched from Omaha well into Nevada while a white string representing Fast Feet extended into eastern Utah.
Only a few months into the challenge, it seems clear that both teams will walk enough steps to travel well beyond the U.S. border, but these accounting professionals have, well, accounted for that, too.
“We’ve got a world map and when we get past California, we’ll start tracking ourselves globally,” Poole said.
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To date, the Fast Feet and Mile Markers teams have combined to accumulate more than 10 million steps. |
A member of the month’s top-stepping team closes his or her eyes and points to an area on the map to determine that month’s meal.
“So if the person points at China, everyone from both teams tosses in some money and we eat Chinese,” Poole said. “If they point at Italy, we’ll eat Italian. If they point at the ocean, we’ll have seafood.”
While there is some competitive fire, the challenge has primarily been a source of fun for both departments, and in the case of Poole, a way to increase his activity level, too.
“I’m definitely doing more now than before,” Poole said. “The challenge has been great in that regard.”
The following is a list of UNMC employees who have recently reached one of the 250,000-step markers in the 1 Million Step Challenge. Send an e-mail to today@unmc.edu with your name, department and tell us what step milestone you reached and we’ll post it on the list.
250,000 steps
- Jean Balsano, dermatology
- Theresa Grutel, pharmacology and experimental neuroscience
- Janet Herde, sponsored programs accounting
- Cheri Langill, Center for Healthy Living
- Fran Neff, College of Public Health
- Craig Poole, sponsored programs accounting
500,000 steps
- Pat Hagemen, physical therapy education
- Lana Hammel, purchasing
- Judy Huey, cancer clinical trials
- Robin Jaeckel, College of Public Health
- Elaine Litton, infectious diseases
- Keith Mueller, Ph.D. College of Public Health
750,000 steps
- Howard Beyer, general accounting
- Jeff Broberg, sponsored programs accounting
- Steve Byrne, sponsored programs accounting
- Puttappa Dodmane, pharmacology and experiemental neuroscience graduate student
- Peter Iwen, Ph.D., pathology and microbiology
- Tricia Jackson, general accounting
- Kim Laursen, information technology services
- Robert Lindberg, general accounting
- Pat O’Neil, sponsored programs accounting
- Bill O’Neill, public affairs
- Shelby Pracht, psychiatry
- Valarie Warner, sponsored programs accounting
- Sandy Wiese, pharmacology and experimental neuroscience
1 million steps
- Carol Ann Ern, anesthesiology
- Jill Daley, ophthalmology and visual sciences
- Tom Keenan, general accounting
- Sandra Latshaw, clinical laboratory science
- M. A. Ray, physical therapy education
- Thomas Tape, M.D., internal medicine
- Denise Wessling, facilities management and planning