This winter, more than 1,800 UW and UW Medicine staff and faculty came together for the Husky Strong Winter Games, a three-week challenge to build healthy habits, support well-being and strengthen connections across campuses and worksites.
From movement and mindfulness to nutrition and community care, participants embraced the opportunity to prioritize their well-being while supporting one another along the way.
The challenge also sparked generosity across the UW community. Together, participants raised $22,246 for the UW Food Pantries from 1,133 donors, helping ensure students have access to essential food resources. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
Kicking off the games
The Winter Games began with an inspiring Opening Ceremony, featuring UW Athletics coaches and UW leadership who shared reflections on teamwork, resilience, and the importance of well-being.
Panelists included:
- Michael Callahan, Head Coach, UW Men’s Rowing
- Jamie Clark, Head Coach, UW Men’s Soccer
- Jita Pandya Buño, Chief Executive Officer, UW Medical Center
- Heather Horn, Vice President for UW Human Resources
- Andy Powell, Head Coach, UW Track & Field and Cross Country
- Jen Salling, Assistant Coach, UW Softball and Olympian
Their stories set the tone for the weeks ahead, reminding participants that strong communities, like strong teams, are built through consistency, encouragement and shared purpose.
A community moving together
The first week, Strong Body, focused on movement and physical well-being. Across campuses and worksites, participants made time for exercise, stretching and getting their steps in. They also got access to The Whole U’s exclusive Fitness Pass, offering free classes at 16 local gyms, fitness and yoga studios.
Together, the UW community:
- Exercised for 103,734 minutes
- Spent 25,788 minutes stretching
- Logged 17,719,630 steps
Those steps represent thousands of miles traveled together whether climbing hospital stairwells, walking between meetings or getting outside for a lunchtime break.
Making space for mindfulness
In week two, Centered Mind, participants shifted their focus to mindfulness and connection with colleagues.
Small moments of pause throughout the day added up to a meaningful collective impact. Participants:
- Took 43,637 minutes of mindful walking breaks
- Added mindful moments to 322 UW and UW Medicine meetings
- Shared more than 1,300 compliments and words of appreciation
- Logged 31,577 minutes of meditation
These practices helped bring more presence and compassion into the workday.
Fueling well-being through nutrition
The final week, Fuel Strong, invited participants to focus on nutrition and the role food plays in supporting health and energy.
Across the UW community, participants reported:
- 1,470 cumulative days of meeting nutrition goals
- 1,448 homemade meals prepared
- 5,822 servings of fruits and vegetables consumed
From cooking at home to making healthier choices throughout the day, participants found creative ways to power their well-being through nutrition.
Celebrating our top participants and campuses
Throughout the three weeks, participants demonstrated incredible consistency, creativity and commitment to their well-being.
Congratulations to our top three individual participants across the entire challenge:
🥇 First place: Chris Kwong
🥈 Second place: Caitlin Klask
🥉Third place: Taylor Ahana-Jamile
Across campuses, the competition remained close, but UW Tacoma emerged as the top campus overall. UW Tacoma proved that dedication and participation make the largest impact. A highly engaged group of participants consistently showed up each week, demonstrating what a small but mighty Husky community can accomplish together.
Join us in celebrating all of our incredible participants and especially those who topped the leaderboard each week!
To ensure fairness across the challenge, final scores were normalized across all three weeks, since each week featured different activities and scoring scales. Individual scores were converted into a percentage of that week’s top score before being combined. For the campus competition, participant scores were then averaged by campus, allowing campuses of different sizes to compete equitably. This approach ensured that success reflected participation and engagement rather than simply the number of participants.
A shared commitment to well-being
While the Winter Games included friendly competition, the greatest success came from the shared commitment to well-being across the UW community.
Participants supported one another through encouragement, compliments and small daily actions that built healthier habits over time. Campuses and clinical sites across UW Medicine and the University joined in, demonstrating that well-being is truly a collective effort.
Whether someone participated by walking a little more each day, pausing for mindfulness between meetings, cooking a homemade meal or cheering on a colleague, every action contributed to the energy and momentum of the Winter Games.
Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this year’s challenge such a success. A special thank you to BECU and Husky Mobile, whose support helped make the Winter Games possible.
We’re also grateful to our Fitness Pass partners, who helped participants explore new ways to move throughout the challenge. Partners included Ampersand Fitness, Equinox, IMA – UW Recreation, Seattle YMCA, University Y Tacoma, ARC UW Bothell, Seattle Bouldering Project – U District, TruFusion, Peaceful Training, Body Reflects Yoga and Bodywork, Breathe Hot Yoga, shefayoga, The Yoga Shala, barre3 Ballard, barre3 Covington, and Pure Barre Seattle.