Power Up Challenge participants learn how to cooperate and pay attention. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Gatorade was flying as fast as the smiles last Thursday during the Power Up Challenge kick-off and Wellness Fair at Dixon Recreation Center on campus. Members of both featured teams participating in the Power Up campus-wide health and wellness challenge showed up to hand out free bottles of Gatorade, and let other campus community members know how they could participate in the 19-week challenge alongside the two teams.

While the hand-selected teams will be participating in public challenges and will be blogging at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/powerup/, all other faculty, staff and students on campus with an ONID account can sign up through Blackboard (http://my.oregonstate.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp) this week to form their own teams or compete as individuals. Once you’re logged into Blackboard, click on the Community tab, search for “Power Up Scoring System” and then hit “Enroll.” Follow the steps until you click “Submit.” To find or form a team, click “Discussion Board” on the left hand side after you’ve enrolled.

Participants will be able to chart their health and wellness progress on a scoresheet through Blackboard. Each week a new theme will help participants explore OSU’s many great resources, from fitness and nutrition to stress reduction and time management.

Last Friday, the two featured teams faced off for the first time, but in low-key, get-to-know-you fashion. Mark Belson of the Oregon State Challenge Course offered a modified, indoor challenge course for participants, focused on listening, interaction and cooperation. From name games to a non-verbal test that asked teammates to line up based on their birth date, while only using visual cues, the challenges helped the teams bond with each other and get to know their competitors.