Typical Day

I am fortunate at my internship to not really have a typical day.  I got to my internship twice a week and do something new and different each time.  On Monday nights I help out with the Meet Me Downtown event.  This typically involves me helping set up and assisting people on the path.  On Thursday when I come in I do a number of things.  I have done things like join Jon taking people to to the different parks, do inventory on the various parks, office work on the computer, and sitting in on meetings.  Jon is awesome about including me in things and thinking of me when he plans things so I get to experience the cool things.  I am excited to think about what I am going to be doing each week.   

Cool Thing I Got To Do

Last on Thursday I went in for my internship and got to do accompany Jon on a field trip of sorts.  We got a city vehicle and picked up two high up people from Banner Health/Good Samaritan hospital.  These gentleman had interest in integrating their goals to make the city healthier into what FitPHX is doing.  They want to get people healthy and not have to make hospital visits and try to prevent a persons problem before it starts.  We showed the two high ups a Walk Phoenix site at Maryvale Park.  We showed them the walking path along with the "Energy Zone" area inside the gym and things for the children to do in the Library.  We then went to a senior center and showed them FitPHX's integration into the senior community.  We finished at Verde Park with a showing of what kind of education FitPHX is giving to children with the help of local medical students.  They were very impressed and showed great interest in the hospital joining with FitPHX in some capacity.  It was a great experience and one of the many things that Jon brings me along to do.

Meet Me Downtown

Every Monday evening I help out with the Meet Me Downtown walk organized by FitPHX and Jon Brodsky.  The walk starts in Downtown Phoenix at City Scape restaurant "The Corner."  I arrive at The Corner and immediately start organizing the tables and setting up the area so that returning exercisers can sign in and new ones can register.  I have a brief meeting with Jon when he arrives and when everything is set up I pass off the sign in duties to other helpers in attendance.  My task from here varies, but it has mainly been to either help direct people on a new path, this was the case during Super Bowl, or standing out at a tricky part of the route to help guide participants.  My day concludes when all members are done with the route.     

Intro to FitPHX

The organization I intern for is called FitPHX.  FitPHX is part of the Parks and Recreation Department for Phoenix and is led by Jon Brodsky.  It is a city wide health initiative with the goal to "create programs and utilize existing resources to improve health and wellness in the region and make the Phoenix area one of the healthiest in the nation. The program encourages residents to lead healthier lifestyles, focusing on childhood and adult obesity, nutrition education, walking, bicycling, the use of public transportation and healthy worksites." www.phoenix.gov/parks/fitphx
FitPHX does many things such as organize the Meet Me Downtown walk that takes place every Monday night.  They also have walking paths set up around various parks throughout the city that encourage walkers to track the distances they have walked.  FitPHX also works with children at various parks with activities called Energy Zones.  For FitPHX I will be helping set up and run the Meet Me Downtown walks as well as coming into the office or go out to parks and assist with various projects.