Traveling all the way from the University of South Carolina, the popular trend known as the Ice Bucket Challenge made its way to Utica High School, where many students were nominated to partake in the challenge of dumping ice-cold water on top of their heads and selecting five new people to participate in the challenge to spread awareness for mental health. However, this isn’t the first time the Ice Bucket Challenge has made its big debut.
The Ice Bucket Challenge made its first appearance in the summer of 2014 after Chris Kennedy jokingly challenged his cousin, Jeanette Senerchia, to dump a bucket of ice-cold water on her head. Senerchia gladly accepted the challenge, only this time, she did it to generate awareness about ALS, a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that causes patients to lose muscle control (The ALS Association – Ice Bucket Challenge and Mayo Clinic).
“He sent it to me as a joke and then it turned into something extraordinary,” Senerchia said. “It just kind of took off in our town, it was pretty unbelievable” (The ALS Association – Ice Bucket Challenge).
While the Ice Bucket Challenge first surrounded ALS, it was relaunched on March 31, 2025 by the Mental Illness Needs Discussion club at the University of South Carolina partnered with the Active Minds Organization to spread awareness about mental health. USC MIND and Active Minds share the vision of creating supportive communities where people feel safe and comfortable talking about mental health (USCMIND Instagram Page).
The Mayo Clinic also states that mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions that affect a person’s mood, thinking, and behavior. Examples being depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and addictive behaviors.
“Our main goals are breaking the stigma around mental health, advocating for suicide prevention on campus, and promoting daily mindfulness,” founder of the USC MIND club, Wade Jefferson said. “At MIND, we believe conversations about mental health should be just as common and just as comfortable as conversations about physical health” (USCMIND Instagram Page).
Like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the mental health Ice Bucket Challenge encouraged participants to donate to Active Minds, to help them establish awareness campaigns, events, advocacy, outreach, and more to help young adults across America to feel better talking about mental health issues, due to 67% young adults not seeking treatment (Active Minds).
“I always love helping people out and I really do 
care for others, so I thought it would be good to donate to a good cause,” senior Ameera Farooqui said. “I want to save lives; I lost a couple of close 
friends and family members who did pass away because they couldn’t handle the stress in their life anymore.”
While the main purpose of these Ice Bucket Challenges is to spread awareness and collect donations, it has also been used as a way to have a fun time with family members and friends.
“I was excited. It’s always fun to be nominated for challenges like that,” senior Michael Hoppe said. “All my friends got nominated, so I expected it. It’s a fun thing to do with your friends and have a good laugh.”
While many enjoy being nominated and participating, some are concerned about how the Ice Bucket Challenge has been viewed as more of a trend than a challenge to raise awareness as it continues to spread.
“It made me feel like I was a part of something that everybody else in the country is doing. It looked like something fun, and I didn’t want to miss out,” senior Faith Kopp said. “I think most people didn’t care that it was a mental health thing and are viewing it as a trend, if they (USC MIND) advertised more of the reason behind it, people would view it differently.”
In 2014, with over 159 countries participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, students have felt honored to take part in the USC MIND Ice Bucket Challenge in hopes of helping people with mental health. (The ALS Association – Ice Bucket Challenge).
“I felt like it was pretty special to be nominated. I actually did not expect to be nominated because the first time the Ice Bucket Challenge was around, I was not nominated, but this time I guess it was more widespread than last time,” senior Haley Dobbs said. “I hope people realize that it’s not just dumping ice water on themselves, but that there is a big meaning behind it, so I hope that the people who don’t know the meaning educate themselves on it.”
After 11 years of traveling all over the world, the Ice Bucket Challenge has been able to raise 220 million dollars for ALS, and now, it has once again made its way through Utica High School to effect change for a better future (The ALS Association – Ice Bucket Challenge).
