The statistic was staggering.

The Leadership Jackson County health project team of Jason Alberring, Elizabeth Bowlen, Brittany Drawbaugh and Jessica Hidalgo was surprised to learn Jackson County had the highest obesity rate in the state in 2016.

“This is not something you want to be first in,” Hidalgo said.

The obesity rate spreads across all age groups, from children to adults, she said.

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“A lot of it is based on the fact that we live such sedentary lifestyles today,” Hidalgo said. “All of us have jobs where we sit for most of the day. We might go home, sit in front of the TV or spend our weekend just watching Netflix. And it’s the same for our children. Our children sit at a desk all day at school without much playtime, and they become more and more addicted to tablets and gaming systems.”

The foursome decided people need to move more, so they chose to focus on the simplest form of physical activity that almost everyone can do — walking.

The team learned about a multiuse path in Brownstown that runs from Jackson County Park to the fairgrounds overflow parking lot and has sidewalks connecting it to the area of the courthouse.

“With the addition of the judicial building there, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to shine some light on this path and make people aware of it, especially all of those employees that are going to be working there who could utilize this on their lunch break or before work or after work as a way to stay healthy and get active,” Hidalgo said.

The main piece of the project was creating a brochure with information, pictures and maps related to the trail. The information includes how the trail was established in 2011.

Bowlen said several local organizations, businesses and the community came together to enter a Back Home Again in Indiana contest sponsored by AT&T to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Businesses decorated their establishments, one person walked 100 miles and residents spoke about their relationship with the speedway or racing.

Bowlen said she was most impressed with the elementary school’s mini Indianapolis 500 race, where students made their own boxcars and raced around the high school track. Someone also sang “Back Home Again in Indiana” before the race.

“It was beautiful,” she said. “There’s a 3-minute video that’s on YouTube if you want to see it. It really touched me. There were people in the stands that came out to promote this. The community really put a whole lot of effort into this competition, and they won.”

As a bonus, the township board matched the $25,000 winnings, resulting in $50,000 to pay for planning and paving. The path was built in 2012, and it was connected to the courthouse area in 2014.

The brochure also lists 12 benefits of walking, has charts that tell how long a person needs to walk or run to burn off calories from certain foods and features a map of the 1.4-mile trail and how it connects to other areas of town.

Drawbaugh said the benefits of walking include weight loss, strengthened bones and muscles, lower blood pressure, low impact, increased energy and self-esteem, reduced stress and improved balance and coordination.

“Walking is also really good for your brain,” she said. “It improves creativity, memory function, concentration and allows your brain to process information faster. Working out also allows your brain to produce endorphins, which makes you happy, so it’s a good thing.”

Drawbaugh said according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans only get 1.5 to 2 miles of walking per day, but the goal is to take 10,000 steps, which is equivalent to 5 miles.

She recommended people purchase a Fitbit or other device to track their number of steps, active minutes, sleep and other information.

Alberring said the map of the path shows its convenient location to the courthouse, which is one of the largest employers in town.

“That’s a really good way to spend a lunchtime, or if you have a limited amount of time, walking or if you like to run, you can run it, as well,” he said.

While using the trail, Alberring said people can look at identification markers at the base of the trees and sit on benches with names of donors on them.

Alberring also said the township board recently worked with the fair board to extend the path to the fairgrounds, which will provide a total of 4 miles of walking paths in Brownstown and Ewing. The plan is to have the county highway department add to the path sometime this year.

A second piece of the team’s project was to conduct a competition between courthouse employees. They tracked their steps for a week in May, and fitness-related prizes were awarded.

Hidalgo said they were encouraged to use the multiuse path, but steps made in other locations counted, too.

“Just health-related but fun prizes to incentivize people to walk more and be active,” she said.

The final piece of the project was outreach to the elementary school.

At the end of the school year, the school’s 650 students received a summarized version of the group’s brochure.

“This was worded in a way that’s geared toward families, trying to make them think about, ‘When I’m home with my kids in the summer and they get bored, this is something that they could do,'” Hidalgo said. “They could take their kids out and walk the trail. It’s just a great opportunity for families to get out and be active.”