SOUTH DEERFIELD — About 30 Frontier Regional School students paused from their studies Monday afternoon to complete 22 pushups — promoting discussion on mental health and suicide among military veterans.

“Twenty-two is the average (number) of veterans who take their lives every day,” said 10th-grader Ava Harper, speaking in front of a middle school class around noon. “People are afraid to talk about it, and that’s one reason) why there are so many veteran deaths.”

“Little by little, we’ve been ramping up, getting more people involved,” said Kate Blair, a health teacher at the school, about her students’ schoolwide initiative.

Since the beginning of December, Blair’s students have initiated “flash mob-style” pushup sessions — surprising classes throughout the school, inviting them to complete 22 pushups and explaining their cause in a “succinct presentation.”

“It’s a social cause, it’s student-led. The reality is, it continues to surprise us — how many people are affected by veteran suicide,” Blair said, adding that since her two classes started visiting other rooms, “every student in the building has heard something about it.”

Students are invited to complete pushups in a number of different ways, including ‘air pushups,’ pushups against the wall, and full pushups on the ground.

Blair’s idea stemmed from a nationwide movement, popular on social media known as the “22 pushup challenge.” The social media-driven movement began following a 2010 Veterans’ Affairs suicide data report that found “an estimated 22 veterans will have died from suicide each day in the calendar year.”

The report also notes that “more than 69 percent of all veteran suicides were among those aged 50 years and older, compared to approximately 37 percent among those who were not identified as veterans.”

“It’s important to teach these ideas at a young age. It stays with you. If enough of us say something, it’ll get people’s attention,” Harper said, adding that the surprise pushup challenge “is a way to start the conversation.”

Others, including Peter Bronke, also in 10th grade, said the initiative is important to him because he intends to join the military some day. Bronke said the pushup challenge is a good way to reveal the struggles soldiers’ face in a unique and easily understood way.

To supplement their in-school activism, Blair’s students have heard first-hand accounts from veterans and worked together on research assignments.

The students’ awareness efforts will culminate Thursday, Dec. 22, when Blair said she intends to bring “as many students and faculty into the gymnasium as possible for a 22 pushup challenge.”

The school’s enrollment is about 620.

“We talk in health class about stigma, and not just around suicide. We try to normalize health-seeking behavior. This initiative supports that,” Blair said. “I want the kids to see what a little bit of effort can do.”

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Suicide Data Report 2012 Final by Andy Christian on Scribd