George Washington University students, faculty and staff recorded more than 49 million steps during the 2017 Steps Challenge. That total puts the GW community just 3,199 steps shy of making it all the way around the world.
Participants took an average of 8,318 steps per day for a total of 21,702.46 miles, 4 million higher than the total from last year’s competition.
The Office for the Vice President of Research won this year’s challenge with an average 13,707 daily steps. External Relations finished second with 12,567 steps and participants from the Graduate School of Education and Human Development finished third with an average 11,150 daily steps.
James Yulich, a junior maintenance mechanic, had the highest overall daily step average with 32,257 daily steps.
Nichole Smith, a graduate student studying women’s, gender and sexuality studies, won the “Chase the LeBlancs” Challenge. Participants were encouraged to try and take more steps than George Washington President Thomas LeBlanc and his wife, Anne. If an individual took more steps than the LeBlanc’s average step count, they were entered into a raffle to win an Apple Watch.
The challenge took place between Oct. 16 and 26.
