Northern High School English and journalism teacher Adrienne LaGier is about to achieve a dream, and she’s getting the help of a celebrity doctor to do it.
LaGier has been chosen as one of seven people to participate in Sanjay Gupta’s annual CNN Fit Nation Triathlon. Gupta is the network’s chief medical correspondent.
LaGier, of St. Leonard, said the event is meant for people “who are completely new to the sport.”
LaGier, 32, was selected from 200 entrants in December to be one of seven participants in the triathlon, which consists of biking, swimming and running. The event will be Sept. 15 and 16 in Malibu, Calif. The other participants are from North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, Atlanta and Southern California.
She said the majority of participants are supposed to start the training process “out of shape completely.”
“Their goal is to curb obesity in America,” LaGier said of CNN, which she said hopes to have the public see the triathlon participants and think, “If they can do it, I can do it.”
When LaGier started compiling her submission video, she got the idea to involve her advanced journalism students.
One student, LaGier said, gave a testimonial on the video about LaGier taking a group of students to California for yearbook camp and being too embarrassed to wear a bathing suit.
The video also featured testimonials from two other students, LaGier’s twin daughters, her fiance and a Northern High School co-worker, Jamie Culp.
LaGier’s yearbook and broadcast journalism student, Victoria Menne, 17, shot the video.
“I feel like it’s really exciting for Ms. LaGier to start out fresh,” said Menne, a junior. “She gets really excited about it and we get excited to hear her new [updates] every day. … I think she deserves it.”
LaGier said within 10 minutes of uploading her video she received the first of many calls from CNN producers, who she said initially wanted to make sure her wedding — set for Sept. 2 — wasn’t the week of the triathlon.
To create more attention for her video, LaGier said her students started posting links for it on Facebook and Twitter, which ultimately helped the video become the most-viewed submission within four days, LaGier said. During the contest she got about 1,100 views.
“Students I didn’t even have were commenting about me and that was really neat,” LaGier said.
At her first appointment with the Fit Nation team, LaGier said she weighed 202 pounds; she now weighs 197.
CNN medical oroducer Matt Sloan said he and his team were drawn to LaGier’s “fantastic energy” and background of being a young working mom who’s about to get married and wants to give her fiance “a happy, healthy life together.”
Sloan said he was not concerned about LaGier participating in the program even though she described herself as new to fitness.
“Most of the people we get for this ... really need our help to get fit,” Sloan said. “She’s more in shape than a lot of people are when they start this program.”
Sloan said he liked the fact that as a teacher, LaGier also can use this as an opportunity to promote fitness in young people.
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