Hello everyone! My name is Maggie Johnson, I am a student at Kennesaw State University. This past year, I started a campaign on campus called Kennesaw Step Up. This campaign was designed to encourage students to take the stairs instead of the elevator. For our first project, a team of artists and volunteers got together and painted murals on the stairwell walls of the university's largest parking deck!
Why murals? Several studies have investigated the effectiveness of environmental intervention on stair climbing and results say that the most effective type of intervention is stairwell enhancement. As a way to encourage students to take the stairs, we painted a mural ribbon flowing from the eighth level of the parking deck to the ground level. The ribbon was being pulled from the top by our schools mascot, Scrappy the Owl. Theoretically, Scrappy is pulling the students up, giving them the strength to climb the stairs. Each level carries a different color and theme that promotes a healthy life style. The ground level (yellow) kicks off the campaign with a quote, "There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs." The third level (green) is nature themed. Level four (red) promotes cardiovascular health. The fifth level (blue) is paradise themed, with palm trees and ocean waves. Level six (orange) is encouraging with a relaxing sunset and the Kennesaw Step Up logo. Level seven (purple) promotes the American Cancer Society and encourages climbers to "Follow their [your] dreams." Lastly, level eight is Kennesaw State University themed with a black and gold ribbon and the mascot proudly holding the ribbon!
We have received all positive feedback on the intervention. Kennesaw Step Up continues to spread its mission across campus and within our community as we would like to have 100% of our population taking the stairs!
