Spring into Wellness 2025

Spring is a perfect time to recommit and reinvigorate our health-related goals. As the weather warms up, our partners through the Wellness Program and the Transportation Alternatives Program connect us to campus resources to help us get moving and take steps to care for our health and wellbeing. Here are a few program highlights from this year’s UC Moves, CycleMAYnia, Bike to Work Program, and Diabetes Prevention efforts.

CycleMAYnia 

2025 CycleMaynia was another successful event this year! This month-long cycling event for residential operations featured two competitive teams, the “Shift happens”  and “Wheelie Fast” who collectively rode over 600 miles throughout the month of May. All participants demonstrated dedication and commitment to cycling, promoting fitness and environmental sustainability efforts.The challenge encourages healthy competition, a sense of community, and alternative modes of transportation. Congratulations to the winning team, “Shift Happens”; they rode over 300 miles. Kudos to Adrian Terrazas, our top rider, for cycling 166 miles! Keep an eye out for next year’s challenge. How far is 600 miles? Our cyclists rode the equivalent distance of riding from Santa Barbara to Tucson, Arizona.

Additionally, UCSB won the Gold Trophy in the county-wide CycleMAYnia competition in Santa Barbara. Winners were elected based on the number of bike trips logged in May 2025 by employees on SmartRide.org, Santa Barbara County's commuter resource platform. Go UCSB Bike Commuters!

Bike-to-Work Day

The Transportation Alternatives Program hosted the annual Bike-to-Work Day Event on May 15 at Henley Gate. Campus Catering provided refreshments to over 150 campus cyclists. Photos from the event are included below!
 

UC Moves

UC Moves is an annual UC-wide well-being initiative hosted by HDAE’s Wellness program and Shira from central HR that promotes wellness and an active lifestyle. UCSB staff and faculty were encouraged to  “move more” for the month of May while competing against other UC campuses. All participants tracked their steps with the Spring into Motion app, which was funded by Kaiser. Activity was tracked by syncing their phone or smart watch to the app or by manually entering their daily physical activities. 

UC Moves included weekly encouraging emails, campus-wide events such as a campus-organized walk, fitness classes offered by HDAE and the Recreation Center, and a mindfulness Zoom workshop. "The Spring Into Motion” app made it easy and fun for staff to form teams and compete, not just with each other, but also against teams from other UC campuses. UCSB had a total of 276 participants and completed a total of 66,348,808 steps, which is equivalent to 33,174 miles. Our campus was ranked 7th place overall among all the 18 other UC campuses. Way to go Gauchos! Shout out to our top three movers, Quinn Mahony, Adrian Terrazas Aguirre, and Kirsten Brinlee, for having the most steps for our campus!
 

Diabetes prevention program

UCSB’s first Spanish-speaking Cohort for the Diabetes Prevention Program was a success and will return in Fall 2025. The Diabetes Prevention Program is a complimentary one-year lifestyle change program for individuals who have prediabetes or are at risk for type 2 Diabetes. The program consists of a CDC-approved curriculum and a trained lifestyle coach from UCLA. The sessions took place via Zoom and provided encouragement, education, and resources to help participants reach better health. Congratulations to 10 of our residential operations teammates who completed the program. The program also included nutritional information, tips to increase physical activity, and problem-solving for overcoming lifestyle challenges and changes. Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic that continues to grow, but fortunately, it can be reversed with lifestyle changes. In collaboration with Katie Mayndard and UCLA, we were fortunate to provide this program to our staff at no cost. If you are prediabetes or at risk for diabetes and would like to join our next DPP in Spanish or English, feel free to contact Leslie Ramirez.