2021 Step Challenge
Steppers Renew Connections and Boost Energy
More than 1,500 people joined the sixth annual Step Challenge this past spring, renewing connections with colleagues and friends as they emerged from the dual cocoons of winter and the pandemic. Faculty and staff, students, alumni and the greater UB community stepped on their own or with a team in a bid for prizes that included Bose Sport headsets, gift cards and a Theragun Mini Muscle Massager. The final step count for the 2021 Step Challenge: 333,916,861. Steppers also learned that you can find UB alumni in all 50 United States and 147 countries, as their total number of steps moved the group through a virtual map of places UB alumni live.
Final winners were:
- The Grand Prize (one person randomly chosen from the top 15 steppers on the leaderboard): Eugenia Riollano
- Most Improved (the stepper who made the greatest improvement in effort during the challenge): Carmon Koenigsknecht
- Top Teams (three teams with the highest average steps/team member): Dog Walking--890,288 average steps; In It To Win It--798,381 average steps; Stormy Seas--731,809 average steps
- Step Superstars (five randomly chosen steppers who met the activity goal they set in StepSense each day during the challenge): Marissa D’Antoni, Beth Faul, Theresa Stephan Hains, Kerri Lehmbeck, Tonya Pulley