Throughout her group placement within the Fall 2022, Rachel Gobrecht seen many kids at White Corridor Elementary Faculty close to Fairmont had been chubby and didn’t take pleasure in bodily exercise alternatives on the playground.
“As a part of our coursework, we had been tasked with discovering a distinguished well being difficulty within the space and the way we deliberate on making a distinction with it,” shared Gobrecht, a senior on the WVU Faculty of Nursing.
She surveyed the city of White Corridor and found that the one playground in the neighborhood was on the elementary college. She additional researched the way to make bodily actions extra interactive to assist goal social determinants of well being in rural communities.
“I discovered about exergames (technology-driven bodily actions) and wished to implement that into my capstone,” she mentioned. “I discovered an app referred to as Biba that’s free on the App Retailer. It may be added to any present playground or inbuilt with a brand new one.”
Biba is an app that includes cell video games that flip display time into out of doors play. A function of the app tells park managers how usually the playground is used and when. It additionally lets the dad and mom know if their kids are assembly bodily exercise necessities.
“It has actually enjoyable video games for the youngsters to play together with, relying on the tools within the playground,” Gobrecht defined. The app can be utilized at an current playground or integrated into new ones.
To get suggestions, she introduced the concept of a Biba playground to the third grade class at White Corridor. She prompted them to attract their dream playground and requested them to examine “sure” or “no” in the event that they want to have a Biba playground — all 15 college students indicated sure.
With the analysis Gobrecht gathered, in addition to the coed suggestions, she introduced the idea to the Marion County Parks and Recreation Fee.
“They cherished the concept and contacted Biba proper after my presentation,” Gobrecht mentioned. “I additionally requested if the subsequent playground might be inbuilt White Corridor.”
The Parks and Recreation director has lately shared together with her that Biba can be put in at East Marion Park in early spring.
“There at present are not any Biba playgrounds within the northern space of West Virginia, so this can be an ideal addition!” Gobrect mentioned. “I’ve felt so grateful to have a category that allowed me to make an precise distinction in a group. Watching my undertaking be simply an concept to changing into an precise interactive playground has made me actually proud.”
She mentioned she has all the time cherished giving again to her group and having a connection to nursing makes it all of the extra significant.
“By loads of analysis, I noticed how methods to fight childhood weight problems and psychological well being points mixed was missing. By intertwining an interactive app and a playground I hope households will change into extra linked and revel in getting outside to train by means of play. I can’t wait to work with kids after I graduate and can all the time assume again to the distinction I made within the White Corridor group!”
