Congressman Altmire Joins 100 Students Representing the Five Winning Schools as
They Accept $25,000 for Taking the Most Steps to Fight Childhood Obesity
BEAVER FALLS, Pa.--(Business Wire)--
Today, The Humana Foundation is honoring 100 Western Pennsylvania students
representing five schools in U.S. Representative Jason Altmire`s congressional
district (PA-4) who walked a combined 14.8 million steps to win first place in
The American Horsepower Challenge. Those steps, equal to approximately 5,600
miles, mean the students burned more than 250,000 calories during the four-week
challenge! The reward for their efforts is a $25,000 gift to be divided evenly
among the five winning schools. Grants funds will support school wellness
activities.
The American Horsepower Challenge is a unique exercise/video-game program
intended to increase kids` activity to improve their health. Nearly 1,600
students in 20 U.S. Congressional districts participated in the challenge, which
ended in May. Twenty members of Congress served as honorary participants. U.S.
Representative Jason Altmire walked nearly 84,000 steps to support his
district`s school students in the challenge.
"I am incredibly proud that the students in my district won this national
competition," Rep. Altmire said. "These kids excelled in making exercise a part
of their daily routine. When you add it all up, they walked the roundtrip
distance from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. nearly 15 times - a truly
remarkable result. I hope that this competition was only the first step these
children will take towards living a long and healthy life."
The 1,585 students and 20 Congress members who participated in the challenge
walked a combined 132 million steps - or just more than 50,000 miles - that`s
two trips around the Earth! Collectively, the participants burned 2.25 million
calories or about 10,000 chocolate bars. If all those miles walked had been
driven in a car, the carbon emissions would be equal to 22.1 metric tons.
"With a focus on children`s health and wellness, The Humana Foundation seeks
opportunities to encourage young people to be more active," said Virginia Kelly
Judd, executive director of The Humana Foundation. "We`re delighted with the
results of The American Horsepower Challenge program and congratulate all the
outstanding participants for walking more than 132 million steps in four weeks."
The five participating schools in Rep. Altmire`s district will each receive a
$5,000 grant from The Humana Foundation for winning the challenge. Students at
the five schools increased their activity an average of 32 percent during the
challenge. The schools are:
• Midland Elementary/Middle School (Midland, PA)
• Hopewell Memorial Junior High School (Aliquippa, PA)
• Beaver Falls Middle School (Beaver Falls, PA)
• Deer Lakes Middle School (Russellton, PA)
• Franklin Regional Middle School (Murrysville, PA)
Here is the official order of finish in the challenge:
Win - Students in Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-4) district - 141,731 average steps per
student
Place - Students in Sen. Mel Martinez (FL) district - 130,126 average steps per
student
Show - Students in Rep. John Shadegg (AZ-3) district - 105,852 average steps per
student
The American Horsepower Challenge is part of a trend known as "active gaming"
that incorporates real-world movement into video games. For example, this
program translated actual physical activity (steps walked) into an online race.
The students wore smart pedometers, called Actipeds, on their shoes to monitor
their daily activity for four weeks. The steps were wirelessly uploaded to
www.horsepowergame.com during the challenge. The Games for Health unit of
Humana`s Innovation Center created the game and challenge.
About The Humana Foundation
The Humana Foundation was established in 1981 as the philanthropic arm of Humana
Inc., one of the nation`s leading health-benefits companies. The Foundation is
located in Louisville, Ky., the site of Humana`s corporate headquarters. The
Foundation`s mission is to support charitable activities that promote healthy
lives and healthy communities.
About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation`s
largest publicly traded health and supplemental benefits companies, with
approximately 10.3 million medical members and 6.8 million specialty members.
Humana is a full-service benefits solutions company, offering a wide array of
health and supplementary benefit plans for employer groups, government programs
and individuals.
Over its 47-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to meet
changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer engagement,
providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health plan experience
throughout its diversified customer portfolio.
More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor
Relations page of the company`s web site at www.humana.com, including copies
of:
* Annual reports to stockholders
* Securities and Exchange Commission filings
* Most recent investor conference presentations
* Quarterly earnings news releases
* Replays of most recent earnings release conference calls
* Calendar of events (includes upcoming earnings conference call dates and
times, as well as planned interaction with research analysts and institutional
investors)
* Corporate Governance Information
Humana Corporate Communications
Jeff Blunt, 513-417-9134
jblunt@humana.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
