Ice Bucket Challenge takes over SDSU

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By Sara Bertsch Lifestyles Editor

These days, the only thing people find on their Facebook feed is videos of others dumping buckets of ice water onto their heads.

This is part of a widely popular fundraiser that has swept the nation through multiple social media sites. It is called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and its name is just that.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has now made its way to SDSU as President David Chicoine and Vice President of Student Affairs Marysz Rames completed their challenge last week on Main Street of The Union.

Chicoine and Rames were nominated by several people including student leaders and faculty members. The two received their buckets of ice courtesy of President and Vice President of Students’ Affairs Marysz Rames completed their challenge last week on Main Street of The Union.

Chicoine and Rames were nominated by several people including student leaders and faculty members. The two received their buckets of ice courtesy of President and Vice President of the Students’ Association Caleb Finck and Courtland McCranie and SDSU’s mascot Jack.

The rules to the challenge are simple, once someone is nominated they must post a video of themselves dumping a bucket of ice water on their head or they must donate money to ALS research.

The rules vary from person to person but for the most part, everyone is given a set time of 24 hours to complete the challenge or else they must donate $100 to the ALS cause.

ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and is more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a motor neuron disease that causes nerve cells to break down and die. So far there is no treatment or cure.

The challenge is believed to have originated from the Golf Channel when staff of the morning show Morning Drive televised their challenge. Soon after that, Matt Lauer, the host of NBC’s The Today Show, televised himself doing the challenge. It then took off.

According to an article by the Wall Street Journal, in the past 30 days there have been more than 118,000 tweets mentioning the #icebucketchallenge. There was a significant jump from July to August. On July 15, there was a daily total just over 100 and then by mid-August it jumped to 32,000 each day.

For the most part the challenge has brought in a significant amount of money for ALS groups and the cancer research centers.

As of Aug. 28, the ALS Association raised $7.6 million in donations in two weeks. Last year in the same two-week period they only raised $1.4 million.

Lately, people have been donating money in addition to dumping a bucket of ice water on their head. The challenge has become very popular with celebrities and important figures as well. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has completed the challenge along with other famous individuals including Robert Downey Jr. and Jimmy Fallon.

In addition to the many celebrities, there have also been fictional characters who have taken the challenge including Homer Simpson and Kermit the Frog.

The challenge originally started out as the cold water challenge but it eventually became so popular on social media it eventually changed to the ALS ice bucket challenge.

President Barack Obama has been challenged several times but elected to donate money to the cause instead of dumping a cold bucket of water on himself.

Other important figures that have completed the challenge include South Dakota’s Governor Dennis Duagaard.

The video of Rames and Chicione completing their challenge can be found on the Facebook or Twitter page of South Dakota State University.