Public Health Week

Each year National Public Health Week is celebrated during the first week of April. The event is organized by the American Public Health Association (APHA), a non-government professional association for public health professionals that prides itself on influencing federal policy and bringing together members from all fields of public health. Public health week recognizes the significant contributions and highlights important public health issues.

The UTC Public Health Student Association (PHSA) held a week of activities from April 1st through the 6th, to commemorate National Public Health Week. The PHSA partnered with Healthy Mocs, UTC Lions Club, UTC Center for Student Wellbeing, and Graduate Student Association (GSA) to promote health on campus.

To kick off Public Health Week, the UTC PHSA & Healthy Mocs hosted the 1st Annual Moc’s Million Step Challenge with the ultimate goal of reaching a combined 1,000,000 steps!

All participants had the opportunity to win free prizes including an Apple watch. In total, 19 teams and 84 individuals (students and faculty) participated in the Moc’s Million Step Challenge. Collectively, the UTC Moc’s Million totaled 5,083,824 steps during Public Health Week – exceeding our goal by five hundred percent!

Public Health Week schedule of events included:

• Monday, April 1: The PHSA & UTC Lions Club hosted booths promoting environmental health awareness and encouraging recycling of unused electronics
• Tuesday, April 2: The PHSA & UTC Lions Club again hosted booths, this time promoting participation in the student clubs and engaging in community efforts
• Wednesday, April 3: The PHSA participated in the “Stress Less Fair”, in which students, staff, and faculty were offered free messages, acupuncture, access to mental health organizations, and much more
• Thursday, April 4: The PHSA hosted a one-hour, live fitness bootcamp on Chamberlain Field to provide students with a midday stress buster
• Friday, April 5: This was the last day to register for ML5K race hosted by the GSA and last day to rack up steps for the step challenge
• Saturday, April 6: Public Health Week culminated with the ‘running’ of the ML5K and all Moc’s Million team step counts were due by the end of the day

We look forward to continue to offer Public Health Week events and initiatives, further increase participation, and strive to create the healthiest campus for the UTC community.

GO MOCS!