Sustainability - Green Notes

One of the programs that the Office of Sustainability spearheads is the EagleFIT program. EagleFIT is a program that aims to promote a healthier lifestyle for students, faculty, and staff. This health initiative has three main goals: to make our campus more supportive of healthy behaviors, to promote healthy eating, exercise, mental well-being, social health, and tobacco cessation, and to help you be the best you can be! In recent years, the EagleFIT program has been put aside; however, one of our newer student workers at the office, Aislynn Martin, decided to take this project under her wing and revamp it! 

One new thing that Aislynn is including in EagleFIT is a stronger focus on mental well-being and social health. Aislynn wants to be sure to highlight these aspects of health because she “felt they were just as important as exercise, healthy eating, and tobacco cessation.” I couldn't agree more with her! As college students, we must make sure that we are taking care of our mind as well as our body. Doing so will show an increase in grades, behavior, and overall mood! 

I think we can all agree that this year has made so many things a lot harder than they normally are. One thing that has been hard for us this year is the inability to attend and host campus events. In a perfect world, we would love to host a health-centered event; however, in today’s climate, in-person events are tricky business. With that being said, we have been able to adapt to the world of virtual hosting and plan to do whatever we can to reach as many people as possible! Aislynn has been working to update and improve the EagleFIT Facebook page. She often uploads motivational posts as well as activities to get your blood pumping while remaining socially distanced! Be sure to check it out!

Speaking of things that have been improved, one of our student workers recently redid the entire EagleFIT webpage. She and Aislynn worked together to create a well-designed and well-informed webpage that is easily accessible to everyone! So much improvement has been done to EagleFIT this semester, and we are excited to see what else we can do with it! However, it is important to mention that we could not do this alone. EagleFIT actually has quite a few different partners that have helped us get where we are today. Our partners include: Exercise Science, Nursing, Facilities & Business Services, Dining Services, Human Ecology, Residential Life, Fitness Center, City of Cookeville, and the Putnam County Health Department. 

Health is one of those topics that you may not immediately connect with Sustainability. However, the two actually go hand-in-hand. For example, when you reduce your meat intake, you lower your risk of obesity, cancer, and heart disease while simultaneously cutting back on greenhouse emissions. Another example would be choosing to walk to your destination instead of driving. When you choose to walk, you are getting exercise as well as reducing the amount of gasoline pollution you put into the air. It’s a win-win situation! 

Aislynn wants to mention that while EagleFIT has come a long way, there is still much improvement to be done! With that being said, she is still very excited to see where it goes—so am I! Be sure to follow our social media pages so you will not miss out on all the exciting EagleFIT content soon to come. February will be an exciting month for EagleFIT, and we do not want you to miss out on it! As always, feel free to contact us anytime with any questions, comments, or concerns at ttugreen@tntech.edu.

Stay healthy, Eco Eagles!