Step-tember!

Throughout the month of September, students and staff from the secondary campus have been participating in a challenge called ‘Steptember’. The goal has been to complete at least 10,000 steps every day, or to consistently improve your step count. This has had several benefits on not only on everyone’s physical health, but also their mental and social health. It has kept our school community connected, and there have been very frequent posts and updates. Initially people were very enthusiastic with 69 people signing up but then when the challenge started, we only had 36 active participants the first week, showing that motivation levels weren’t very high even though people wanted and intended to participate. During the final week there were even less participants with only 12 people entering their steps. The final two weeks were during the holidays, so this is a clear example of how disruptions in routine can lead to decreased motivation levels. While we were attending classes daily, we were consciously fitting walks and extra activities into our routines, and when we don’t have a routine to fit it into, we just don’t do it. 

“During the school holidays I’ve felt less stressed about everything than when we were doing remote learning every day, but remote learning did get me somewhat motivated to get out of bed and actually do something other than nothing all day like we are now.” 

- Year 9 student                                

At the end of the entire month of September it was calculated from the entered steps that we had a total of 7,567,870 steps (roughly 5766kms). That means as a team we've managed to walk from our school to almost the peak of Australia (near Torres Strait) and then to Darwin, Northern Territory. This is halfway around Australia!

This challenge has been beneficial for all dimensions of health (Physical, Mental, Social). It was interesting to see how everyone completed their steps differently throughout the month, some people walked, ran, and some people walked up and down their house after curfew since they forgot! Although motivation levels dropped towards the end, it was a still a very rewarding experience for all and was a great way of interacting with our peers and teachers.

- Charlotte A, Year 9

This September staff and students participated in a challenge to do 10,000 steps and or more a day. Everyone found this as a way to relax and maintain normality. Many of the staff and students kept losing motivation but when individuals started to notice they posted photos and encouraging messages to make sure they knew that they could do it and that they were not alone. Despite the competition this meant way more to us, it was about going out and exercising so we weren’t inside all day. This also helped us mentally and emotionally. We all noticed we were more energetic and motivated to do more in our days instead of sitting at our desk all day everyday of this lockdown. The staff and students found this to be an amazing escape from our desks and many students felt that we got to have a laugh with the teachers after our classes and discuss how everyone was traveling and reveal our competitive sides. While asking individuals what they thought was the most challenging they said the weather and staying motivated. Despite the student’s best efforts, the staff won by 92,678 steps. Altogether as a team we did 7,567,870 steps which is roughly a 5766km walk. Thank you to staff and students for partaking in this challenge.

Thank you to Christine for making this happen and to the staff for being involved.

- Maddy G, Year 10