CHS takes on a new physical and mental health challenge

If you’ve ever done a Burpee you’ll know that it’s a great full body workout that can help to build muscle strength and endur-ance.
If you’ve ever done 10 burpees in a row, or 20 or 50, you’ll know that it’s also very hard work!
So you can appreciate that the Burpee Bounce Back Challenge (which challenges participants to do 1,534 burpees in 17 days) is going to be tough.
With 1,534 young people diagnosed every day with a mental health illness and the chal-lenging year we’ve just had, Cobar High School (CHS) staff and students felt the Burpee Bounce Back Challenge was worth being involved in.
CHS teacher, Alex Brown, who is heading up the challenge at the school, said it’s an im-portant initiative that raises funds and aware-ness for youth mental health.
“The challenge is run by Orygen who help young people recover from mental health chal-lenges.
“Three in four Australians will experience a mental health challenge by the time they turn 25,” Mrs Brown said.
“Students are completing this challenge to normalise conversations about mental health of young people and create a mentally healthier future for the 1,534 Aussies aged 17 and under who are diagnosed with a mental illness every day.
“Plus being physically active is good for our mental health!” she said.
CHS students are participating under the guidance of their PE Teachers with Team Brown, Team Jacobson, Team Hitchins, Team Westwood and Team Finn all hoping to achieve the target as a class, and some are also taking the challenge individually.
The challenge started on Monday and by midday Mrs Brown had already done 150 burpees.
She said many of the students are just as keen as she is about taking part in the chal-lenge.
“We will be tracking the teams progress at school with a team leaderboard, and students can register and join their class team online too.”
More information about the challenge, in-cluding how to donate, is available at www.burpeebounceback.org.au