If you’ve been checking social media lately, especially Instagram, there’s a slim-to-none chance that you haven’t seen people dump buckets of ice water on themselves. This is called the ice bucket challenge, or more specifically, the USC Speak Your MIND [Mental Illness Needs Discussion] Ice Bucket Challenge. 

  The original ice bucket challenge started back in 2014 as an initiative to raise awareness for ALS [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis]; people would pour a bucket of iced water on themselves and nominate a few of their friends to do the same thing. The ice bucket craze grew exponentially, and all kinds of household names like Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and Justin Bieber participated in the trend. 

  The challenge was a major success across the globe and ended up raising well over one hundred million dollars for the disorder. Today, over a decade later, the USC Speak Your MIND Ice Bucket Challenge is raising awareness for mental health and illness. Even countless students at Grand Ledge High School [GLHS] participated in the fad, posting to their Instagrams videos of themselves becoming drenched with huge amounts of cold water.

  Sophomore at GLHS and Speak Your MIND challenge participant Jacob Roush said, “Everybody got involved in it…it brings people together because everybody was doing it.”

  As Roush said, the challenge brought people together from all over the world. Varying communities and people of all ages had been nominated to do the trend; participants of the challenge may be thrilled to join in on something fun that’s for a good cause. Many participants and non-participants appreciate the reasoning behind the challenge.

  “It brings more attention to mental health problems,” Roush said.

So far, the challenge has raised nearly $300,000, and it’s only increasing in popularity.