On Mar. 31, University of South Carolina’s Mental Illness Needs Discussion (USC MIND) club posted an Instagram Reel starting an Ice Bucket challenge to raise awareness for mental health. The challenge went viral. Since then, thousands of people have completed the challenge, and over $370K has been raised for the cause.
The challenge officially involves getting ice water dumped on your head, nominating two to three people, donating to the fundraiser and sharing the video with the hashtag #SpeakYourMIND.
The challenge gained popularity within Huron students on Instagram a few weeks ago.
“I started noticing people doing the ice bucket challenge about three weeks before it swept up Huron,” junior Emily Ngo said. “I was nominated by a friend from Huron and once I posted mine, everyone started doing it. I decided to join the challenge because I knew it was for a good cause, which was for mental health awareness. However, I don’t think a lot of people got the message behind it which is why I also reposted posts reminding people about why this challenge was made.”
The USC MIND Challenge is modeled after a similar challenge that went viral in the summer of 2014 to raise awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) that causes muscle weakness and paralysis. The shock from the cold water is supposed to be somewhat similar to the feeling of ALS.
This did cause some backlash as people said that USC MIND’s challenge was detracting from that. However, the ALS Association issued a statement on April 19 in support of this new ice bucket challenge.
Many students, although nominated, chose not to participate for various reasons. Junior Isha Savi, who was nominated three times, was one of them.
“I think part of the reason I didn’t participate was embarrassment, because the challenge just feels very vulnerable,” Savi said. “I also think that it’s a little bit performative, because it is supposed to be for mental health, but a lot of the time people don’t put in the resources, or don’t even mention what it’s for.”
“We’re thrilled to see the spirit of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge live on in new forms of activism,” the statement said. “We applaud efforts to raise awareness for causes like mental health – an issue that also affects the ALS community in profound ways.”
Many people ultimately felt that the USC MIND challenge was a way to raise awareness about mental health and participate in an activity with their friends.
“I was nominated by my best friend,” junior Savanna Ramirez said. “At first I was kind of skeptical to do it, but then she sent me the actual instructions from the USC MIND Instagram. I was like, it’s for mental health, and there’s a lot of people doing it, so I was like why not? I want to be a part of it.”
