On Thursday, October 1, the Department of Sports, Health, and Rehabilitation in the College of Physical Education at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul) and the Aging & Exercise Science Research Lab in the Graduate School held the “Pick Up Health, Walk for the Earth: Senior Health Promotion Campus Plogging” program for senior citizens in the local community.
 
This event was organized as part of the “Earth Care Project—Whole Village Action Together,” a Seongbuk-gu Lifelong Learning Specialized Program competition, and was made possible through a collaboration proposal from the Jeongneung Silver Welfare Center, the project’s operating agency. With 12 senior citizens from the local community participating, the event took place for approximately two hours in lecture halls and around the campus of Kookmin University. It was distinguished by its approach of linking movements such as walking, changing direction, picking up items, and carrying them to the health and functional mobility of older adults, moving beyond typical “plogging” activities focused solely on environmental cleanup.
 
Before the activity began, participants learned foot and ankle exercises, weight shifting, safe changes of direction, and proper methods for picking up items. Next, in teams of two, they participated in a “Healthy Plogging Relay,” performing tasks such as walking, scanning their surroundings, stopping, picking up items, and working together. They then moved to a course outside the campus to apply the movements they had previously learned to actual plogging activities as part of the environmental cleanup effort.
Professor Chun JiHyun of the Department of Sports, Health, and Rehabilitation at Kookmin University, who oversaw the program, stated, “This program is highly significant in that it connects a proposal from a local community organization with the university’s expertise in exercise science, thereby expanding routine environmental cleanup activities into physical activities that promote the health of older adults.” She added, “We will continue to support healthy physical activity and social participation among older adults through hands-on programs that reflect the needs of the local community.”
 
Meanwhile, Kookmin University’s Department of Sports, Health, and Rehabilitation and the Aging & Exercise Science Research Laboratory at the Graduate School have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Jeongneung Silver Welfare Center and are establishing a cooperative framework to promote the health of older adults in the local community. Going forward, the two institutions plan to link their respective expertise and resources to jointly plan and operate physical activity and health promotion programs for older adults in the local community.