?ALS Challenge Knocked Back and Forth?
Beck Swig ’15, Editor-in-Chief

Over the past few months, our newsfeeds and online sites have been jammed with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. At first, it was a fantastic way to raise money for Lou Gehrig’s Disease; currently 113.3 million dollars have been raised. However, people have lost sight of the ultimate goal, to raise awareness for ALS, and are more focused on the stunt itself. Out of all of the celebrities to take the challenge Charlie Sheen and Bill Gates were the only two to specifically mention that the ALS Ice Bucket challenge was actually a medium through which to spread awareness, rather than a way to get a few more likes on Facebook!

However, since the school year commenced, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has become overdone. While I do commend our school for taking the challenge and donating to the organization, the fact that it has bounced back and forth between Menlo and SHP three times now is not the point. The challenge wasn’t designed to fuel some fun rivalry between schools; one time is sufficient, but challenging three times is two too many. It detracts from the point. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was set up to raise awareness and money for ALS. Yes, more money is being donated each time, but the value of the challenge itself has been jeopardized. We as a school are taking advantage of the challenge to play on our rivalry with SHP. We could go on all year with nominating each other – lets try dousing the athletic department next! – but that isn’t realistic.

I am not against the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge at all, I just think that we should be careful about how we go about participating in it. ALS is a real disease, real people are affected by it, and we should honor those who deal with it every day. Let’s stop knocking the challenge back and forth and take a moment to realize the reality behind ALS.

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