The Push-Up Challenge 2025

Our school is participating in The Push-Up Challenge 2025 – Australia’s largest fitness event, which promotes better mental health and wellbeing. From 4 – 26 June we will each complete 3,214 push-ups, or alternate exercises, in memory of the 3,214 lives lost to suicide in 2023. The Push-Up Challenge (TPUC) is about connecting people through education and physical exercise as well as raising awareness about mental health in Australia.

Last year I completed The Push-Up Challenge to show my support for many Australians who struggle with or have lost their lives due to mental health battles. I also wanted to challenge myself so I decided I would take it to the next step this year by becoming a student ambassador for TPUC and exploring ways to make a difference in our school, to create a better sense of community and share mental health education.

TPUC encourages me to advocate to destigmatise mental ill-health and provide any support I can for our students who may feel the need to reach out but are unsure or worried to do so.

So far, we have thirty-one people, both from and outside school, who are participating in the challenge (and making amazing progress), with $510 raised between us so far. We’ve hosted our first group push-up session where Mr Peter Hughes took some amazing photos and Ms Kate Watts came down to bank some exercises with us.

The challenge has been so much fun to complete with friends and like-minded people who love a physical challenge and are pushing for better mental health in Australia – it’s beyond fantastic to see the effort everyone is putting in!

Thank you to Ms Alana Burke; without her encouragement and help I wouldn’t have been able to get this initiative up and running.

Thanks also go to my girls who have supported me and this challenge from the very start, and to our small Year 12 committee of volunteers. It’s been so much easier to implement the challenge with a team by my side!

Happy Push-Upping!

Milla Finch, Year 12