Iona College pushes up

ONE Geelong school has set its students the challenge of completing one million push-ups throughout June.

Iona College teacher Dean Millard has given staff and students the task as part of this year’s Push-Up Challenge, Australia’s largest mental health and fitness event.

“We want to use it as a way to get kids to realise that every little bit that they give, whatever the best version of themselves is, makes their community stronger,” Mr Millard said.

“The messaging we’re giving around that is every one you do, we can’t do without you.”

The Push-Up Challenge is an Australia-wide event, encouraging people to push for better mental health and fitness, taking on 3,214 push-ups over 23 days in June, honouring the 3,214 lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2023.

More than 180 staff and students from Iona College signed up to complete the challenge, which began on Wednesday this week.

Students getting behind the idea are using push-ups as brain breaks in class while some classes are running year level competitions.

Mr Millard said students have reacted to the challenge in a mix of ways, some excited by it and others a little more “standoff-ish.”

“We know that not everyone’s going to finish this challenge, we know it’s an intimidating thing to do the 3,214 across three weeks, but it’s like that in life.

“Sometimes not everyone’s going to be the person who can fix everyone’s problems from a well-being perspective, but if we all do little things to help each other, those little kindnesses build up.”

An avid supporter of the mental health and fitness initiative, Mr Millard has introduced it into the schools he’s worked in, making 2025 his seventh year participating.

“I started working at a new high school and I was talking to my class about it and they got really interested and got involved,” he said.

“Through getting them involved I noticed it had a big impact on the way they communicated with each other and the language they used during mental health and from there I’ve grown it.”

This year will be the school’s second year being involved with participant numbers growing from the 100 students who took part last year.

As part of the challenge the school is also raising money for Lifeline, with some groups also choosing to fundraise for others, including Headspace.

For more information or to donate to the team, head to thepushupchallenge.com.au/fundraisers/IonaCollegeGeelong