The USC Speak Your Mind Ice Bucket Challenge

Tiffany Sun

April 18, 2025

Scrolling through TikTok and Instagram, video after video of people getting ice water poured over their heads floods my feed. This is not a trend like the others; the University of South Carolina (USC) has brought back the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” from 2014, and now it’s spreading like wildfire.

The USC Mental Illness Needs Discussion club (MIND) posted a reel on Instagram, outlining the challenge: participants get ice water dumped over their heads and nominate others to do so as well. Those nominated must respond in 24 hours by completing the ice bucket challenge and continuing the nominations. From the start, in 2014, this challenge was created to promote awareness about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis—also called Lou Gehrig after the famous baseball player who passed away from this ailment—is a fatal motor neuron disease where the progressive degeneration of nerves in the spinal cord and brain leads to the loss of muscle control, and ultimately paralysis. Unfortunately, the damage that ALS inflicts cannot be reversed. However, through extensive research efforts in the past couple of decades, medication that slows the progression of ALS has been created.

The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge generated around $115 million for the ALS Association, which went into further research and taking care of those struggling with ALS.

This year, the University of South Carolina has restarted the ice bucket challenge in collaboration with the nonprofit Active Minds, except this time to raise awareness and money for mental health, as well as break the stigma surrounding the subject. With the convenience and speed of communication that social media provides nowadays, participants nominate friends oceans away, helping spread awareness on a global level. This challenge has already raised $25,000 in donations, and the trend is still dominating TikTok and Instagram.

Active Minds is a huge nonprofit organization in the United States mostly made up of youth and young adults that aim to transform mental health norms. The nonprofit has implemented multiple programs that foster healthy conversations on mental health and encourage further discussion.

Whether you’ve completed the challenge, have yet to complete it, or have yet to be nominated, this phenomenon truly showcases the power of social media to bring exposure to relevant topics, as well as the intersection between modern trends and serious matters.

Thankfully, spring is in full swing, and the arrival of this challenge has perfectly coincided with the warming weather, bringing laughs and summer vibes to teens all around the world while promoting something meaningful.