
The annual Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Fitness Day returns as an in-person event on Monday, May 23. This year’s Fitness Day includes a fundraising and registration goal for Be The Match, the nation’s largest registry of bone marrow donors.
Fitness Day is a unique, campuswide workout to celebrate movement. The Seattle campus will host the event on the field at Husky Stadium, where participants will gather from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and complete a circuit workout with 20 stations led by expert coaches from Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Athletics and community partners. Workout stations will include strength training, cardio bursts, active recovery and yoga. All fitness levels are welcome and encouraged to participate. Participants will receive a free, performance tech T-shirt.
From 3:30 to 5 p.m., the festivities move to Red Square for “Get in the Game,â€� a joint effort with Be The Match intended to increase awareness of its marrow and stem-cell donor registry and encourage students to sign up for the registry. Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ athletes will lead the peer-to-peer education effort with Football, Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Cheer and Dance, and Track teams participating.
Alexes Harris, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor of sociology, is leading the push to increase the registry at the event. Six years ago, Harris was diagnosed with a form of leukemia that required a bone marrow transplant but couldn’t find a match on the registry.
“Be The Match couldn’t find me a match because people of color are underrepresented on the registry and ancestry matters when matching,â€� said Harris, who added that she was fortunate to enter a clinical trial at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and had a cord blood transplant that saved her life. “I work with Be The Match in the name of people who did not find a match and were not able to live.â€�
The goal is to raise $5,000 and sign up 500 new registry members. Participants are invited to make a $5 suggested donation when registering for Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Fitness Day.
“After years of not being able to gather in person due to the pandemic, I am thrilled to see employees and students come together in community once again,â€� said Mindy Kornberg, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ vice president for Human Resources. “̹½ÊÓÆµ employees across campus and our medical centers work extraordinarily hard and this event is the epitome of centering employee well-being at work.â€�
Fitness Day events are also being held Monday at Harborview Medical Center, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Bothell and Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Tacoma. More information on all Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Fitness Day events at every location can be found on .
For more information, contact Victor Balta at balta@uw.edu.