School Resource Officer Ken Braden created a competition to help members of the BVHS Staff lose weight and eat healthy. He said he understands the difficulty of trying to begin to lose weight.
“A lot of people say they want to lose weight, but they don’t act on it because they don’t know how to get started,” Braden said.
Braden came up with the idea for the competition while talking with teachers Eric Driskell, Manal Siam and Azie Taghizadeh. Those four eventually became the captains for the four teams of the competition. The teams will be divided equally among weight.
Braden designed the competition to last for about two months. For the first month, team members will tell their captains how much weight they lost at the end of each week, and they will keep track of the total percentage of weight lost. For the second month, they will stop keeping track each week, and none of the teams will know how much the others have lost during the last month until the last weigh-in day on May 15.
“I think the competition aspect of it definitely adds a lot more accountability than just saying you’re going to do something,” Siam said. “It’s fun just doing that playful smack-talking with some of the other team captains and team members.”
Siam is in charge of documenting the percentage of weight lost by her team and individuals.  She already has activities planned to help her team win the competition.
“A couple of things our team has talked about right now is maybe doing a 5K or some kind of race together,” Siam said. “And then just general motivation, that’s kind of what we’ve got going on right now.”
Even though it is a competition, Siam would like to see everybody who is involved reach their goal.
“Ultimately, we just want all of us to be in a healthier place in a couple of months,” Siam said.
Karen Kaman, the Administrative Assistant of Athletics, is one of the staff members who accepted Braden’s weight-loss challenge. She said her participation in the competition goes beyond trying to lose weight.
“I’m moving to Colorado this summer, and I wanted to get healthier and in better shape before I take up all the outdoor activities that I have waiting for me there,” she said.
Kaman said she also enjoys the competition aspect of the challenge.
“For me personally, I will do better in this program because I would never do anything to let my team down,” Kaman said. “So, the fact that we’re working as a team and that we’re accountable to each other, means that I have a better chance at success. They’re welcome to join me in the fitness center at 4:30 in the morning.”
Kaman said she feels optimistic for the competition.
“I’m glad that Officer Braden and some other people came up with this great idea,” Kaman said. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun. I look forward to it.”