You may have seen all over social media the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge, where people dump buckets with water and ice over their heads. Celebrities are doing it, and you may have also seen friends, family, and everyone around the whole world doing the challenge this past week. The purpose of this challenge is to help spread awareness about mental illnesses and help people who have mental illnesses not be afraid of speaking out about it. To participate in the challenge, you have to get nominated by someone who has already done the ice bucket challenge, and you have 24 hours to post a video of yourself doing the challenge too and nominating more people.
TikTok and social media star James Charles posted a TikTok of himself doing the ice bucket challenge, and in the TikTok, he informed us, “It is the USC speak your mind ice bucket challenge because we recently lost a student at USC due to mental health problems.” James also said in his video, “Originally, the ice bucket challenge trended to raise awareness for ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, which we still don’t have a cure for.”
In the summer of 2014, the ice bucket challenge exploded online to similar to the USC ice bucket challenge happening all over the internet right now. It was in the same format; you have to get nominated, and then you nominate other people as well. Many celebrities were posting themselves doing the challenge to social media celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, David Beckham, Bill Gates, and Robert Downey Jr., to name a few. According to WGNTV, “Seventeen million people participated in the ice bucket challenge. It generated $117 million for the ALS Association nationally. And worldwide, it’s predicted to be $220 million, she said. The money helped scientists identify 12 genes that play a critical role in ALS”.Jake Mann, PhD, is an ALS researcher with Northwestern Medicine.
According to the #SpeakYourMIND Ice Bucket Challenge’s fundraising page for active minds the challenge is targeted towarsd youth and young adults to offer them resources, training, and skills they need to advocate for lasting mental health change they are showing the people in our life that their mental health matters, that we should be open about our mental health, and they should be able to seek the care they need. As of right now, they have raised a total of $296,569, smashing their goal of $250,000 and can provide resources, tools, and message reach even more people.
The rules of the challenge were a main reason why the challenge spread so fast around the world. The rules are that, within 24 hours of being challenged, participants have to record a video of themselves in continuous footage. First, they are to announce their acceptance of the challenge, followed by pouring ice into a bucket of water, then the bucket is to be lifted and poured over the participant’s head. Then the participant can nominate a minimum of three other people to participate in the challenge. This format helped the challenge spread rapidly through Instagram and TikTok, spreading awareness to millions of users.
We interviewed Meliza Cardenas, a cousin who participated in the ice bucket challenge, and we asked her about her experience and what she thinks of mental health, which is the whole purpose of the challenge. The first question we asked her was who nominated her? Her response was, “The people that nominated me were Camila, Alexia, Darr, and Victor. They are all my friends and cousins.” The next question we asked her was what’s your opinion on mental health? Her response was “My opinion on mental health is that I feel that people should seek the help they need, and I feel we should be understanding because there are things they might not be comfortable sharing, and I think people should be aware what other people are going through.” The final question we asked was would you be willing to do this again, yes or no? And why? she had then responded with, “Yes, I would do it again because it’s sharing awareness for people who have struggled with mental health, suicide, and all of that.”
Mental health is very important, and this challenge gave very important information and awareness to millions of people around the world through the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge.
