The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ has swept the nation once before, but now with a different purpose. Many of you may remember when the Ice Bucket Challenge made its first appearance back in late 2014 with the significance of raising awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This time around, the Ice Bucket Challenge is destined to bring awareness to mental health. The challenge started back up in the middle of April and has seen a continuation into May, with famous athlete Peyton Manning and Influencer James Charles participating in the challenge.
What makes this Ice Bucket Challenge different from the one before, and who started it?
That question has been the most popular one on social media. The first ice bucket challenge that happened over a decade ago was started up by three friends with ALS. Anthony Senerchia, Pete Frates, and Pat Quinn are the three who started a trend that saw an estimated 17 million-plus participants along with 115 million dollars. ALS had become widely known around the world due to this challenge. It seemed as if every person you knew was participating in it, from older siblings to President Donald Trump.
The second coming of the Ice Bucket challenge was reintroduced by a group at the University of South Carolina called USC MIND, which stands for Mental Illness Needs Discussion. USC MIND was started by university student Wade Jefferson, who lost two friends to suicide during college. Wade and the rest of the group had seen how many people the ALS ice bucket challenge had reached and wanted to do the same thing. As of May 5th the MIND group has raised over 460,000 dollars as of may 20th through multiple donation links.
What does this mean to students at West?
An estimated 250-300 students at West participated in the challenge. Wahawks from every grade participated and nominated their friends at West to do the challenge. West has shined a big light on mental health recently so a challenge like this allowed students be able to join in on a challenge with other peers
Students at West were also excited to see a favorite teacher Mr. Decker joining in on the challenge who was asked about why he participated. Decker said “I thought the Mental Health Ice Bucket Challenge was a pretty cool idea to bring the community of our school together. I thought it was awesome that kids were excited to come in and show their videos of them doing it, so I am glad I was able to participate along with the school community. Good things happen when our students come together, so it would be awesome to see the students do that for athletic events, concerts, etc. With 1700 students in our building, why not fill the entire gym with a student section?”
