Community
4 July, 2025
Students push their way through challenge
MORE than 200 senior students from Emmanuel College have completed the annual Push-up Challenge, closing in on almost 175,000 of the arm-straining exercises between them.
Past student of Emmanuel College and Lifeline community engagement coordinator Dan O’Keefe was thrilled to have the school on board and so many students along for the ride.
“The idea of the challenge isn’t just about fitness and doing the push-ups every day, it’s about something bigger,” Mr O’Keefe said.
“It’s more about wellbeing, connection and awareness of some alarming statistics.
“It’s really a conversation starter and we’re thrilled to be working with Emmanuel College to have this number of students involved.”
The challenge, which ran for 23 days in June, sets the task of completing 3,214 push-ups.
This number represents the number of Australians who tragically lost their lives to suicide in 2023.
“Every day, the push-up goal highlights key mental health statistics, offering moments of reflection and learning,” Mr O’Keefe said.
To round out the challenge, Dan O’Keefe joined senior students on the final day, last Thursday, to tackle the last few push-ups together.
“It was great to join the students and be part of the final day to push them to finish strong,” Mr O’Keffe said.
