Every Monday of winter, many Ames High students can be found sporting the season’s best article of clothing: the sweater. Torry Hand, a senior and a sweater enthusiast, credits seniors Jacob Rogers and Keith Snider for the birth of Sweater Monday, who started the tradition among their friends during freshman year. Before they knew it, Sweater Monday began to spread. While Hand admits that Sweater Monday may have died out since then, she hopes to bring it back this year with more participants than ever. “Everyone loves a good, warm, oversized sweater during the winter months,” Hand said. “Plus, ugly Christmas sweaters are always fun to see.” However, between the costs of applying to college, maintaining the latest fashions, and taking every possible opportunity to visit Orange Leaf, students find themselves facing a fiscal challenge. Those hoping to participate in Sweater Monday must beat the expensive sweater odds, and Hand has a solution. “I go to Salvation Army, and there is also Goodwill,” Hand said. As a sweater-shopping trip to Salvation Army will reveal, there are hundreds of sweaters at the shopper’s disposal, starting at just two or three dollars apiece. When the average teenage sweater shopper arrives at Salvation Army, Goodwill or the mall, he may face another dilemma. The abundance of sweaters and different options are not recommended for the faint hearted. Never fear, Hand has all of your sweater fashion needs. “I like oversized sweaters with the weirdest designs,” said Hand. You heard the sweater executive. Get yourself to the nearest second-hand store, take a deep breath, and plunge into the sweater trove. Find the ugliest, largest sweater you can and “werk dat sweater” like Tuesday will never come.