Tuesday, August 26th, 2014 | TeChNews

Illinois Tech students take Ice Bucket Challenge

 

Kevin Zheng
TECHNEWS WRITER

Students of Illinois Tech participated
in the Ice Bucket Challenge on Sunday,
August 24th. The Ice Bucket Challenge is a
challenge that was started and is promoted
by the ALS Association.

According to the ALS Association
website, alsa.org, Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS) is a “progressive
neurodegenerative disease that affects
nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Motor neurons reach from the brain to the
spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the
muscles throughout the body. The progressive

 

 

degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS
eventually leads to their death. When the
motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to
initiate and control muscle movement is lost.
With voluntary muscle action progressively
affected, patients in the later stages of the
disease may become totally paralyzed.”

The most well-known person to
have developed this disease is Lou Gehrig.
Because of Gehrig’s popularity, the disease
was given the nickname “Lou Gehrig’s
disease.” Stephen Hawking, a well-known
scientist, also suffers from a similar motor
neuron disease related to ALS.

Few people are aware of this disease
and even not everyone who is aware of this

disease knows what the disease is about.
This is why the Ice Bucket Challenge exists
as a way to educate others about ALS; the
challenge was hosted at Illinois Tech to
spread awareness about the disease and
to raise money for research for the ALS
Association. To complete the Ice Bucket
Challenge, participants pour buckets of icy
water over themselves, donate money to the
ALS Association, and challenge a few friends
to do the same.

This event was hosted by the Office
of Spiritual Life and Service Learning, the
Student Government Association, and the
Better Together student organization. This
event would not have happened without the

"39‘“

support from Lynne Meyer from the Office of
Spiritual Life and Service Learning, students
in Better Together, Akindae Aderele, president
of the Student Government Association, the
Oflice of Campus Life, and most importantly,
the students who participated and donated to
this cause. The donation link will stay open
until Sunday, August 31. Donations can be
made at the following website: tinyurl.com/
IllinoisTechALS. Thanks to all students who
participated in the challenge last weekend.

After completing the challenge,
Illinois Tech extended a challenge to the
student body of other universities: MIT,
Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, and Cal Tech
to complete Ice Bucket Challenge.

 

Photo by Kevm g

Welcome Week 2014

Photos by Kori Bowns