The halls of Bristol Central High School will be a bit buffer when students return to class, Monday.
Hundreds of students stayed up from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday to exercise.
“I didn’t imagine I’d be awake right now,” Xia’ian Carrasco, a Bristol Central High School Junior, commented.
Carrasco had been doing push-ups for 14 hours, and still had three more hours to go.
“I’m doing fine. I’m pushing through it,” she said. “Four coffees and my friends are helping me a lot with motivation,” she added.
She and more than 300 of her classmates, teachers, and alumni of Bristol’s Central High School pledged to do 10 push-ups per minute every minute over 24 hours.
“They know that they’re helping these people that have volunteered to give their all,” said retired Marine Major John Ploskanaka, a volunteer for the Semper Fi Fund.
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Participants raised money for the fund, which helps wounded marines and other service members reacclimate to life at home.
“Their network of military helping military is very important,” Ploskana explained, adding that the fund gives out 84 grants a day.
While some students pledged to do an hours-worth of push-ups, others pledged a full 24 hours, for 14,400 push-ups.
“I’m feeling pumped. I’ve got the adrenaline in my blood,” said Bristol Central Senior Brendan Varnum.
Varnum did ten hours at Push-Ups for Patriots, last year. This year, he went for a full 24 hours, which helped him train for his future.
“I’m enlisted in the Marines right now so it was definitely a big motivation for me to get out and do push-ups,” Varnum explained.
“There are so many troops who are real heroes. They sacrifice so much for us and so this is the least we could do to give back,” said Push-Ups for Patriots organizer Ryan Broderick, the head of Bristol Central’s Social Studies Department.
The group beat their goal. Those who did the full 24 hours reached 15,000 push-ups.
Participants raised more than $3,000.
