H-E-B, Witte unveil plans for healthy adventure exhibit [La Prensa (San Antonio, TX)]

The Witte Museum wants to raise San Antonio's health awareness, so it plans to bring in a new exhibition next year that will help visitors maintain a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

Named "H-E-B Body Adventure," the new addition has been in the works since 2007 and will be a highly interactive experience where kids and adults alike will learn about the human body, healthy eating, and exercising techniques through a series of educational displays and engaging physical activities.

Marise McDermott, president and CEO of the Witte Museum, emphasized the need to have an exhibit dedicated to health and wellness.

"Right now, this is a perfect storm of sedentary lifestyle and processed foods, and so that's one of the struggles we all have in living in this modern society. To really combat that, we are offering a healthy, exciting way to be in the world," she said.

The H-E-B Body Adventure will replace the popular H-E-B Science Treehouse exhibit that has been a part of the Witte for many years. The treehouse will close its doors in early January of 2014 and will reopen as the new exhibit four months later on May 24.

"H-E-B Science Treehouse will be completely transformed to the H-E-B Buddy Adventure," McDermott said. "It will involve indoor-outdoor, revolutionary, never-before-seen interactive experiences on health and wellness."

State-of-the-art activities will include the South Texas Trail Blaze, where visitors will be able to cycle virtually through a virtual San Antonio River landscape and monitor their heart rate. Work Y our Walk, is another interactive activity where participants will learn about walking speed and stride length.

All activities will be accessed via a POWERpass, a card that will store visitors' information and allow them to monitor their progress online after their museum visit.

"Everybody will get a POWERpass so it will be an authentic health experience for every single person who does physical activities and spends the day changing themselves. So you'll be able to experience transformational change in the H-E-B Buddy Adventure," McDermott explained.

With every swipe of the POWERpass, an H-E-B Body Adventure Buddy will accompany visitors and will show up on screens and help them go through the stations.

Young Women'sLeadership Academy 7th grader Lexie Rodriguez was chosen to be to be an H-E-B Body Adventure Buddy after she auditioned for the role at age 10.

"It's a really good thing," the 12-year-old Rodriguez said of the new exhibit. "I've always loved the Witte's H-E-B Treehouse and the stuff that's going to be here now is going to be way better. It's going to be more interactive."

Rodriguez added that the exhibit is "a little bit more geared for kids because it's a step-by-step process," but everyone will be welcome to participate in the activities.

The new display will not come cheap, which is why the Witte established partnerships to help fund this new project.

"It's a $5 million project but, as always, the Witte goes and seeks partnerships to fund that," McDermott explained. "This is something that we worked very closely on with H-E-B, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the University Health System - it's actually powered by the University Health System, so there'll be a lot of metrics and data to really track how people experience healthy change."

Some of the Witte's additional partners include the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and AETNA health insurance.

While the grand opening is not until next year, the Witte Museum, its partners, and even some visitors are already preparing themselves for the positive outcomes from this exhibition.

"Already, from our prototyping of programs, demonstrations, and exhibitions, we know that the H-E-B Buddy Adventure will be transformative for this museum and this community," McDermott said.

By Gracy Vargas

intern@laprensasa. com