The USC ice bucket challenge is when you dump a bucket of ice water over your head. It is supposed to raise awareness for mental health while also helping to boost student programs that help students in need. The reason the student programs are involved is because the USC ice bucket challenge was brought back by college students who go to the University of South Carolina. They started the trend with a small goal of only $500.00, however, the trend went viral again, and it reached celebrities, and it helped to demolish their old goal of five hundred dollars.
When you hear people say the ice bucket challenge is back, they are referring to the ALS ice bucket challenge from a little over a decade ago. The ALS ice bucket challenge is very similar to the USC ice bucket challenge, but it served a different purpose. The ALS ice bucket challenge was a trend to spread awareness and raise money for further research towards amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. When the ALS ice bucket challenge first happened in 2014, it went viral everywhere and raised millions of dollars in profit for research.
The participants get nominated by other people, and once they get nominated, they have to do it; it is the rule. You need to fill a bucket up full of water and ice, hence the ice bucket challenge.
2025’s ice bucket challenge raises money for a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. called Active Minds, in hopes of empowering the youth and the young adults in order to change the stigma surrounding mental health. The club that started this trend at USC is called MIND. (Mental Health Needs Discussion) It was founded by Wade Jefferson, a junior at USC. According to news networks, he started it because of the unfortunate suicide of his friends.
They started this trend hoping to raise five hundred dollars; however, so far they have raised just under $250,000 at the time of writing this.
When people do these challenge videos that are posted on social media, they must nominate anywhere from two to five people in their videos. Another rule is that the people who participate in this challenge must also donate through Active Minds and the #SpeakYourMIND fundraising page. When you share your video on social media, you must use the hashtag #SpeakYourMind, and you need to tag #uscmind.
Everything to do with this USC Ice Bucket Challenge has to do with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s made to raise money, help people, and spread awareness on mental health and diseases. The ALS disease affects the brain, and all people with mental health disorders or issues have issues in their brain; that is why it’s (mental) health awareness. Once they both became popular, they raised ridiculous amounts of money for these great causes.
