Courtney Woods was happy with her results from the I Am Fit program.

"I lost three pounds over the past few months," said the 18-year-old. "Doing a few extra things and walking a few extra minutes really made a difference."

Ms. Woods was one of 180 students from A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet School who participated in the program, a partnership between the school and the Medical College of Georgia.

In January, participants were split into teams and challenged to walk, as a team, the miles it would take to go from Augusta to Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America -- 4,525 miles.

Participants wore pedometers and had the totals recorded each week through May 1.

Students celebrated their success May 14 with an I Am Fit Olympics that featured several activities, including a three-legged race, balloon toss and tug of war.

Corey Harris, 18, enjoyed the teamwork.

"By doing this as a group, we didn't allow each other to slack off," he said. "We encouraged each other and gave each other tips on how we could stay focused. The result was that we all picked up good habits that will be with us for life."

Carl Hammond-Beyer, a teacher at Johnson and one of the program's coordinators, was impressed with the students' reaction to the event.

"They were really excited each week to see how far they had walked, sometimes even stopping by in the middle of the week to show me what they had accomplished," he said. "They were really enthusiastic about it, and I hope next year this is something that we can expand to the entire school."

Participants had to get parental permission to participate.

Health awareness is the main goal of the program, said Denise Kornegay, the director of the Georgia Area Health Education Center, an associate professor of family medicine at MCG and MCG's liaison to A.R. Johnson.

"These kids are amazing. This is a health science school, so they were already aware of some healthy habits. But with this program, they stepped up to the challenge to learn more," she said. "By building awareness, we hope that this will have an effect on their overall health."

The schools hope the program will have a domino effect, said Dr. Roman Cibirka, the vice president for instruction and enrollment management and associate provost at MCG.

"When other students and children see their peers engaged in improving their health, hopefully it will snowball and encourage them to take steps to improve their health," he said.

This was the first year of a four-year pilot program. By the end of it, participants will have walked the miles it takes to walk around the world.

Reach Nikasha Dicks at (706) 823-3336 or nikasha.dicks@augustachronicle.com.