Fitbit Steps into BHS

Fitbit is making more and more staff members motivated to get active.

Fitbit+Steps+into+BHS

Tiffany Curro, Staff Writer

Stepping into BHS, Fitbit motivates many staff members to become more active throughout their busy days.

A Fitbit flex, made by Fitbit allows people to track their number of steps, calories burned, and sleeping patterns throughout the week.  Users can then look at their own and other people’s progress on the Fitbit app or online.

Having easy access to this information, many staff members have been competing with each other.  Science teacher Doreen Collin was one of the first competitors in this staff competition.

“If you have a Fitbit then you can be added to the group of people competing with each other,” said Collin.  “We [staff members] have been adding people in the past six weeks.”

This weekly competition restarts at the beginning of the week.

“We have a new challenge every week,” said Collin.  “There is usually a different winner every week.”

Having won one of the weekly challenges, science teacher Mandy Cyr takes credit for starting the Fitbit challenge.

“I brought the whole challenge here,” claims Cyr.  “This whole challenge is in existence because of me.”

Although she has won a challenge she fears that a recently added member science teacher Leslie Mourmouras will be the champ.

“She is a runner, so she runs…a lot,” said Cyr. “Plus she has kids, so she runs even more than a runner.”

However how much does Mourmouras really run?

“I run about 40 miles a week”, said Mourmouras.  “However the Fitbit does not track miles, only steps. I am still really obsessed with it, and seeing my amount of steps.”

This is not anything new for her.  She runs this much year round, no matter what the weather is like.

“In the winter [I wear] more layers,” said Mourmouras.  “Sometimes I’ll do hand warmers to keep warm.  In the summer I love the heat, it does not bother me at all.”

Teachers who have not always been the most active have found ways to keep their amount of steps high.

“Sometimes I’ll walk to Mrs. Cyr’s room just to tell her that I am getting my steps in,” said Collin. “Then at other times while I am sitting at my desk I’ll tap my feet on the floor really fast. That helps my step number quite a bit.”

Currently winning this weeks challenge, principle Jeremie Sirois is one of the many members who believes that this competition has had a very positive effect on the staff.

“ I think it’s simply a fun thing for us to do as a staff,” said Sirois.  “Each week we are adding more people that want to take part in the “Workweek Hustle”.  We’ve been able to push each other a bit and it’s nice to see people being competitive in a nice way.”

Not only has it brought the staff closer together, but also has gotten everyone more active.

“The Fitbit Challenge promotes physical fitness,” said Sirois.  “My belief is that a healthy person is a happy person.  This gets people out walking.  For myself, I have had a hard time getting into the gym lately, but when I look down at my Fit Bit and see 20,000 steps I’m happy with that.”

However not all teachers are in on this challenge.  English teacher Bruce Braiser prefers to stay away from the Fitbit trend.

“I rather keep that stuff to myself,” Braiser said.  “I can also count on my treadmill to keep track of my miles.”

Fitbit also creates the same controversy within the students. Junior Morgan Potvine can’t decide if she really wants one.

“I think it would be really cool to try out,” said Potvin.  “At the same time I don’t know how much I would really use it.  I feel like I would use it a lot at first, but overtime I would kind of forget about it.  I just dont want to spend that much money on something that I may not use a lot.”

Students like junior Megan Pelletier also agrees that the Fitbit is not something you should just buy for the sake of buying.

“They are at least a hundred dollars, which is a lot of money to spend on something like that,” said Peltier. “I mean it is really helpful, and I would use it, I just don’t know if it is worth it.”

However sophomore Kendra Cote doesn’t seem to mind the price.

“Almost all workout stuff is pricey,” said Cote.  “The Flex Fitbit is cheaper than most athletic trackers, and from what I have heard it is really accurate.”

Although Fitbit can track you number of steps, calories burned, and sleep patterns, it can not do it for you.

“Getting fit is something you have to do yourself,” said Cote.  “The Fitbit is just a helpful tool to help motivate you.  It is all within the person themself to get active.”