You have probably seen your friends from Hazen, other schools, and people from all over the world posting on social media about the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge. Many of you might have even participated in the challenge and nominated your friends to do it as well.
Before the USC Speak Your Mind Challenge, there was the 2014 “Ice Bucket Challenge.” This challenge started to raise awareness for a disease called ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). They were able to raise $115 million in donations in just six weeks and a total of $220 million for ALS research, which unfortunately still has no cure, and it is still very important to talk about.
Today, the “Ice Bucket Challenge” has been reimagined by students at the University of South Carolina to tackle a new issue: mental health awareness. The Mental Illness Needs Discussion (MIND) club’s #SpeakYourMIND campaign launched on Instagram in March. It adapts the challenge’s format to raise funds for Active Minds, a nonprofit whose mission is to mobilize youth and change mental health norms. Participants pour ice water over themselves, post the videos, and nominate others to join. During the video, many also emphasize the importance of speaking candidly about mental health.
The MIND club was started by just one student, Wade Jefferson, a junior at USC, who was inspired to found the club after losing two friends to suicide. The campaign aims to normalize conversations around mental health and make those conversations more accessible. Jefferson’s initial goal was to raise $500 and expected this club to stay on the USC campus, so he was very surprised by how much it blew up and all the popularity it gained. The Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge is now being done all over the United States by teenage kids. Friday, April 18, this campaign surpassed $100,000 in donations, and many current and former familiar faces have donated to this cause, such as former NFL player Peyton Manning. Now the campaign has raised over $190,000 for Active Minds, and the fundraising target has been raised to $250,000.
With the virality of the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge, it’s important to understand that this challenge is to bring awareness to mental health and allow people to freely speak about mental health without feeling scared to talk about it or fearing judgment. The point of the MIND club is for people to come together to discuss the hardships and struggles of mental health, so this is not just some fun trend that started. It’s important not to forget the real meaning behind the challenge and understand that many people who participate or get nominated are people who struggle and want to participate and post their videos on social media to support mental health.
You never know what someone is going through, which is why a few Hazen students share why they decided to participate in the challenge and what people should know or think about before partaking in the challenge to empathize with people.
Kendon Nguyen and Maddy Pham are both sophomores who were nominated and participated in the USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge. They were both nominated multiple times, and they shared why they did it instead of just ignoring the nomination.
Kendon’s reason for participating is because “it’s fun, it’s summertime, and even though no one did it when I did, I still decided to do it anyway because it’s fun.” Kendon’s advice is for “people to donate to this cause because mental health is important and even if you don’t have a lot of money, contributing what you can does a lot.” For Maddy, it was because “it shines light on an issue that doesn’t get a lot of recognition. It’s an important thing that should be acknowledged.” Maddy’s advice to those who are thinking of participating in this challenge is to “think about the real reason and realize this cause is very important to so many people.” With this being such a serious cause, rather than some trend, they both share what people should think about and consider.
