Submitted Release

It was Kingswood Oxford alum Ashley Desmond, Class of ’01, who threw down the gauntlet to KO alums, coaxing participation in the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” a cyber-campaign meant to raise awareness of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

KO Advancement Associate Meghan Kurtich of Avon was up to the task! On the sunny but cool afternoon of Aug. 7, she agreed to let KOKO the Wyvern douse her with an oversized bucket of ice water, demonstrating KO’s solidarity with thousands of shivering others who have done the same since the end of July.

The Ice Bucket Challenge was started by Peter Frates, a 29-year-old Boston College alum and baseball team captain who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012. To raise awareness of the debilitating disease, he and his friends encouraged people to post videos of themselves getting soaked with ice water on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (#icebucketchallenge).

The movement went viral, and within days videos were posted from around the world — including from celebrities like Matt Lauer and Martha Stewart. The ALS Association reported that from Aug. 4-7 alone, there had been a tenfold increase in donations compared with the same period last year.

Part of the challenge is to coax others to participate — so Kurtich tapped five more KO alums to take part. Within three hours, KO creative arts teacher Greg Scranton ’94 of West Hartford had done it!