HERMITAGE — By her own admission, Brandie Millich fails to make people sit up and take notice when she runs or does push-ups, pull-ups or sit-ups.

But, the Hickory High School senior said that didn’t mean she didn’t get anything out of the experience when Army soldiers put her through those paces Thursday.

“Even though I didn’t do very good, it was fun,” Brandie said.

The soldiers pushed Hickory juniors and seniors through the Army Strong Challenge as part of its effort to fight childhood obesity and to try to get career-minded upperclassmen to consider serving their country.

The challenge pairs physical activity with questions from practice SAT and ACT tests. Combat soldiers routinely have to be able to perform mental and physical activities at the same time, and it takes a particular set of skills to accomplish those tasks.

“When you’re tired is when you gotta think the most,” said Bo Hocker, event director for the Army Strong Challenge. “It’s important to have a clear mind to be both mentally and physically fit.”

The students were given a minute for each of the physical fitness activities, and then a minute to answer multiple choice questions, such as, “Define querulous,” “Why did President Wilson ask for a declaration of war on Germany in World War I?” “Why was Harriet Tubman known as the ‘Moses’ of her people?” and “What is the product of length, width and height?” Points were given for correct answers and the number of exercises performed.

Junior Greg Galbo said he noticed it was harder to think of the answers to the questions when he was trying to catch his breath.

“They were difficult questions,” he said. “You really had to know about them to answer them.”

“You’re thinking, ‘I’m tired,’ and not focusing as much on the questions,” said junior Olivia Schmidt.

Although the servicemen played up the competitiveness of the event – groups against groups, classes against classes and schools against schools – Olivia said she took a step back from that mentally.

“If you didn’t have fun with it, it wasn’t as good,” she said.

The exercise forced the students to work as teams because they answered the questions as a group, Brandie said.

“It made us listen to what others had to say and take into consideration what they thought about it,” she said.

The program also gave students a glimpse into the demands on America’s service personnel, Brandie said.

“I think it was good for us to learn a little bit about what they go through,” she said. “They do a lot for our country. I think, as high schoolers, we should know more about them.”

Hickory was one of 28 Pennsylvania schools the Army Strong Challenge is visiting on its current tour, chosen for the strength of its physical education program – based on student performance in the Presidential Fitness Challenge – and support of the Army, Hocker said.

Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Wilson of the Mercer Recruiting Company said the Hickory students did well, particularly the earliest classes. In other schools, the scores got better as the day wore on.

“This is a really great opportunity to help with the mental and physical toughness of students,” said Capt. Leo Raabe. “This is important for the country.”

Phys ed teacher Laura Mount said she enjoyed seeing the students who took the challenge seriously, especially those she would not ordinarily think would apply themselves.

“You can see that look on their faces you don’t see in phys ed class,” she said.

School officials said they like to have Army personnel come into the school to give students another option for a career after high school. While students could enlist in the military to serve, they also could use the military as a way to earn money for college. Representatives of the Youngstown State University ROTC were on hand to press that point.

Principal Chris Gill said he hopes the Army Strong Challenge becomes an annual event at Hickory.