March Madness is taking on a different meaning at Whitworth University, where the Health Education Action Team (HEAT) is challenging students to stay active all month long through its March Madness Movement Challenge.
March Madness is known to hold significance in American sports culture, referring to the month-long, single-elimination tournament for NCAA Division I basketball. HEAT’s version brings the same spirit of competition to student wellness, encouraging participants to move as much as possible throughout the month.
HEAT student leaders Ellie Thuy Hinnebusch and Grace Weeda launched the November Movement Challenge in fall 2025. With a successful turnout, their team decided to bring back the challenge this spring. Currently, the challenge has attracted 25 participants, all tracking their activity through Strava, a fitness app that logs workouts and total movement minutes.
“Strava also allows me to track total movement minutes to determine weekly leaders,” said Hinnebusch.
The HEAT team will also be posting the top three participants every 10 days to maintain engagement. At the end of March, the participant with the highest total minutes logged will be named the overall winner.
While most participants take on running, it is not limited to that activity alone. Hinnebusch shared that the participating students may log any form of movement for this challenge. This is intentional to keep the challenge accessible and encourage students to increase activity in inclusive ways.
Courtney Osborn, a student in Whitworth’s Master of Arts in Teaching program and former Whitworth undergraduate student-athlete, has been a standout participant and won the November Movement Challenge.
Osborne joined the November Movement Challenge because she wanted to win and noted that she runs two to three hours a day.
“I do marathons and ultramarathons,” said Osborne, “I just really love the outdoors, being able to explore and just challenging myself.”
In balancing training and academics, she said, “It’s a lot, but I know my priorities. Academics is number one, but running is the thing I love doing the most.” Although she is recovering from an injury, she hopes to still excel in this year’s March challenge.
The Whitworth Recreation Center will be providing the prizes for the overall winner. The March Madness Movement winner can choose from a free Outdoor Recreation trip valued between $12 and $100, depending on the activity, a free intramurals membership, a free frisbee, chalk ball, climbing shoe rental, or a free registration for Semper Liberi, the university’s annual climbing competition.
