Students, faculty and staff of West Liberty University participated in a national effort to “get moving” and focus on physical activity. WLU students also helped out at a Wheeling elementary school where youngsters joined in First Lady Michelle Obama’s National Geographic Kids World Record attempt to have the greatest number of people ever doing jumping jacks at the same time.

The Health and Physical Education Club organized the event on campus, physical education and health instructor Cathy Monteroso reported. “We had 243 people on campus – students, faculty and staff – who participated in jumping jacks. They included Keely Camden, dean of the College of Education, the football team and some coaches.  We had 99 participants at Madison Elementary School in Wheeling.

“The concept behind the day was to support and awareness of physical fitness, especially for kids.  The goal was to set a world record for the number of people doing jumping jacks in a 24 hour period.”

The officers of the campus HPE club are Kristin Randolph, president; David Sanders, vice president; Henry Kumm, secretary; and Lauren Magers, treasurer.  Their committee helped organize the event with support from faculty members Melissa Hudson and Kathleen Wack. At the Madison school, Haley Bengier, Shaylee Dawson and Molly Dennison, students from Monteroso’s methods in teaching elementary health class had student participate in jumping jacks a couple times throughout the day.

“The most important message was to get and keep kids moving,” Monteroso said.