When the pandemic hit, College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Culture and Employee Engagement Committee (CEEC) made a pivot in how employee engagement was handled. Instead of in-person events, the group had to get creative – which included hosting the beloved Halloween contest through online platforms.
In an effort to create engaging, solo activities, Student Success Advisor, Tami Ankeny, worked with CWI faculty and students to create 21-Day Challenges for employees which were coordinated by CEEC members. Employees from across the College participated. Prizes were awarded for each month’s challenge in addition to grand prizes in May and were based primarily on participation.
“Thank you and the rest of the committee for coming up with these challenges,” said Teresa Rich, Assistant Professor and 21-Day Challenge participant. “The challenges really helped make a difficult year much better! I felt like a community even while spending most of my time cooped up at home.”
During spring semester, employees were invited to work with Exercise Science students for personal training. Supervising instructor, Tim Curry, noted the experience was a massive success for both the clients and the students. Completing their evaluations of the experience, clients had rave reviews about the value of participating.
Social Work students were also a part of the experience as they helped create content for newsletters and emails sent to 21-Day Challenges participants.
“Thank you for allowing the Social Work 202 students to participate and contribute to the newsletters and emails for the 21-Day Challenges,” said Jana McCurdy, Social Sciences Department Chair. “I enjoyed seeing their contributions throughout the year. The emphasis on being active, eating healthy, and getting outdoors was so beneficial. This was the perfect year to have a focus on mental and physical health and encouragement to take care of ourselves. I appreciated the sense of community this program developed especially while we were socially distanced, isolated, and remote.”
Stay tuned for future activities from CEEC!
