Challenge Winners Announced
Obesity Solutions announced its Challenge winners on April 1, 2013. Four winners were chosen from a field of approximately 50 entries. Entries were judged on the proposed solution's potential impact on the obesity epidemic, team strength, innovation, and sustainability.
Alien Health Game
The Alien Health Game team was composed of members of the Embodied Games for Learning Lab. Dr. Mina Johnson, team lead, spoke about the team’s entry, “The Embodied Games for Learning Lab (EGL) has created a nutrition game that uses the Kinect sensor so that children can also exercise while having fun learning about how to feed a foundling Alien. The Alien has a body like a human’s and needs to be kept healthy, the exer-game is designed to be played either with a whole class or alone as a single player. The game will be available for schools and aftercare programs by this summer and includes a Spanish language version.”
Team members: Mina Johnson, Hue Henry, Ken Koontz, Kennya Rodriquez
Nutritional Health Awareness
A team composed of ASU undergraduates, these students focus on the prevention of obesity and diabetes through nutritional health using a peer-model approach. Katie Norris, NHA president states, “We educate the children of our community through interactive lessons about health-related issues and the importance of nutrition and exercise. Our unique curriculum and mentor style teaching empowers them to make wise health decisions in the future. All of our teachers are ASU students who have a passion for spreading the message of a healthy lifestyle. We hope to impact more of the community by hosting health fairs and teaching in at-risk areas."
Team members: Katie Norris, Shovna Mishra, Shannon Wheeler, Jerry Carman, Kapila Patel, Paige Fennig, Alissa Sabatino
Newtrition
The youngest winning team is Newtrition, 6 high school freshmen from ASU Preparatory Academy, under the guidance of Irene Hsiao. The students plan to launch a snack bar with healthy options at their campus and also offer healthy cooking classes as part of their venture project. The team states, "...our goal is to inform adolescents of the importance of nutrition and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle." ASU Prep serves a diverse and dynamic population primarily from the downtown, south and west Phoenix communities.
Team members: Pedro Duenas, Maria Guevara, Jenesis Maldonado, Steven Mercado, Rebekah Santa Cruz, and Cheyenne Tasher, and advisor Irene Hsiao.
Stand and Move
Stand and Move is a collaborative team of ASU staff and faculty from the ASU downtown campus. This project encourages ASU staff and faculty to live healthier, more productive lives. According to Matt Buman, “The project will equip a workplace environment of students, faculty, and staff on the downtown campus and incorporate height adjustable desks, walking workstations, and a social market campaign. As a collaboration between ASU College of Health Solutions, Steelcase Corporation, and Target Interiors, this project will serve as a scalable model for other workplaces of how to take concrete steps on a large scale to improve the health and productivity of their workforce. “
Team members: Matt Buman, Kevin Buman, Stephanie Riordan, Noe Crespo, Anna Park, Monica Gutierrez, Lynn Kostel, Laura Perry, David Trippany, Maren Channer, Jody Hanson
If you would like more information on the Obesity Solutions Funding Challenge, please email: obesitysolutionschallenge@asu.edu. You can also call 480-727-7579.
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