While dress-up days are often associated with Homecoming Week and other school-wide celebrations, many Ames High students coordinate their attire on a weekly basis. In fact, various groups of people organize dress-up days for almost every day of the week. In the past few years, Ames High has had participants in Sweater Monday, Flannel Friday, Cord Tuesday, Formal Friday, Tie-dye Tuesday/Thursday, and, arguably the most well-known, Wednesday Sweater Wednesday. Senior Torry Hand piloted Sweater Monday as a freshman, when it developed a loyal following of nearly twenty students. “It was just our mutual love of sweaters that fueled the start of Sweater Mondays,” Hand said. “ I think there are a number who participate unknowingly, but not many who think about it.” Hand said she plans to revamp Sweater Monday by making a Facebook group and encouraging participants to sport their winter attire on a regular basis. “There is a group on Facebook and we try to remind people,” Hand said. “I love me some sweaters so I wear them whenever I feel like, but if people dress up on sweater Monday, they get to see all the crazy sweaters out there.” Another sweater-related dress up day is Wednesday Sweater Wednesday, with nearly two participants since it was founded last year. Most other dress-up days, such as tie-dye Tuesday and Thursday, are not organized by specific students. “I usually wear tie-dye shirts on Tuesdays or Wednesdays,” senior Vera Zhao said. “It’s not like Sweater Monday or Formal Friday where people plan out their outfits in advance. I just do it sporadically.” Senior Keith Snider created a Facebook group for Flannel Friday early in his junior year to coordinate his friends’ plaid-wearing efforts. “If you wear a sweater on Monday or a flannel on Friday I will try to give you a high five,” Snider said. “If you do not own a legit flannel shirt I will still love you if you wear a plaid shirt, I mean it’s the thought that counts.” Although many people unwittingly participate in Flannel Friday and Sweater Monday since both articles of clothing are teenage staples, a small group of students have rather deliberately dressed up for Yacht Society. The group, which is characterized by white capris, boating shoes, popped polo collars, and sweaters draped off shoulders, has already had one dress-up day earlier this semester. Juniors Leigh Ann Honzatko and Hannah Bonestroo founded the group and said they plan to have more dress-up days this semester. “ We were looking through old yearbooks in Stevens room and saw a hilarious picture of a yacht society club with Webb in it,” Bonestroo said. “Our only goal is to take over AHS with nautical fanaticism.” Although over twenty people donned nautical attire for Yacht Society’s first Wednesday dress-up day, Honzatko said the group’s goal is to increase dress-up day participation by putting up more posters around the hallways. “Our first dress up day went okay,” Honzatko said. ”However, we didn’t advertise the club well enough so not many people knew about it.” The group’s next dress-up day is scheduled for Wednesday, February 15, and all are welcome to participate in the boating-club snobbery. Homecoming week may be several months away for die-hard dress-up day participants, but for those who are truly fans of unconventional clothing (or simply do not want to think about what to wear on certain days of the week), Ames High’s wide selection of clothing-themed days is a good alternative. “When you dress up, especially in yacht attire, you automatically feel elevated above everyone else,” Honzatko said.