SAI CatchLife Program Background

Roark Horn, SAI executive director had a vision to better serve the health needs of his membership and chose Rick Schupbach to lead the initiative. Rick has been the CatchLife Director since it started in 2016. Rick was a veteran, award-winning Iowa educator for over three decades from Grundy Center, Iowa, a district that had received numerous state, national, and international distinctions for its innovative school health practices. Through Rick’s leadership, CatchLife was born with the mission of “Helping Administrators find their leadership-life fit.” Following is the timeline of CatchLife since its inception.

2016 (Feb - July) (Pilot Program Phase) 

The initial Pilot program featured the Polar A370 fitness tracker, which is still used today in the CatchLife 16-week program. The A370 was chosen after extension product research because it tracked the areas of sleep, daily activity level, inactivity stamps, and heart rate training length and intensity while utilizing various friendly user platforms. Thirty of the 34 members of the SAI Representative Council volunteered to partake in the Pilot project. A University of Northern Iowa (UNI) research team​ partnered with SAI and conducted a study of 10 of the pilot participants

2017 (Feb - July)  (CatchLife 1.0 Phase) 

Using feedback obtained from Pilot participants adaptations were made to launch CatchLife 1.0. This program, using the A370 tracker, served 175 members in which 96% of participants reported data and 74% of the specified goals were met during the 24-week timeline. The UNI research team conducted a more extensive qualitative study involving fifty (50) participants. Their study report was used to inform program planning in both the Educational Leadership and Postsecondary (ELPE) and Kinesiology, Allied Health and Human Services (KAHHS) Departments​ at UNI as well as the wider audience in the field.

2018 (Feb - July)  (CatchLife 2.0 Phase)

CatchLife 2.0 was launched using a “Pay it Forward” model. Past participants were encouraged to share the opportunity and recruit others to join the “team” program. 29 teams and 191 participants took part in year two. The program was adjusted to include weekly individual and state reports where individuals were recognized and administrative teams competed against one another from across the state.  Following are the goals and averages for the CatchLife 2.0 program.

CatchLife trickled down to staff and students in various districts as well.  The SAI/UNI partnership​ collaborated to develop a CatchLife program for aspiring principals in the ELPE Principal Preparation Program at UNI.

2019 (Feb - May)  (CatchLife 3.0 Phase)

CatchLife 3.0 was expanded for the 2019 year. After participant feedback adjustments were made to the dates to correspond the ending of the program with the ending of the school year, making it a 16-week program. Twelve teams involving 59 individuals took part in this program. The results were once again very positive for those who participated in relationship to the goals.

Team Data Highlights:

Individual Data Highlights:

The data below is broken down by individual and shows the percentages of goals met by each CatchLife participant.

In addition, two pilot programs were initiated: 

CatchLife Health eTips (Cost: Free) Videos were created and sent weekly to the 255 SAI members who signed up for them during the 16 weeks of CatchLife 3.0. The videos were a way for SAI to get health and wellness in front of its members on a weekly basis as a reminder to think about personal well-being on a regular basis. The hope was it would help these individuals make some positive changes regarding lifestyle decisions that could impact their leadership.

CatchLife 30-Day Challenges (Cost: Free) were piloted in the fall and spring. One was conducted in the fall with the MOC-FV administrators and one in the spring with the Pella administrators. These challenges included a 7-Day Prep and then a 30-day program where participates recorded how daily results in the areas of nutrition, hydration, sleep, activity and Leadership-Life Fit goals. Modifications were made each time to better serve participants. Tracking of tasks was done using the Vimify app.

As a result of these three CatchLife initiatives, over 300 SAI members were involved in the CatchLife program in 2019. Each of these programs content is being modified for delivery for the 2019-2020 school year. Rick continues to adapt and make changes to the programming to better serve the needs of SAI members regarding their health and wellness.

Please contact Rick Schupbach for more information regarding participation in fall 2019 or spring 2020.