Seniors Sven Olberg and Lucas Day decided to get into the holiday season this year by doing something a little different.

“We’re doing the First Annual 31 Day Ugly Christmas Sweater Marathon (FA31DUCSM),” Olberg said. “We’re wearing sweaters every school day from Thanksgiving Break to Christmas Break to raise money for charity.”

The idea started out as a funny thought, but through more considerations and planning, it became a real project.

“It started as a kind of joke and I just said [that] we should wear Christmas sweaters every day in December and it got more serious, and then we decided to start after Thanksgiving Break. My friends just laughed; I don’t think they took me seriously,” Olberg said.

By the encouragement of certain friends, Day and Olberg decided to start raising money for a local charity by wearing the sweaters.

“Our friends are the ones that gave us the idea to make it a benefit. Kara Rieth offered me a dollar a day if I would wear khakis along with the Christmas sweater and it just kind of went from that,” Day said.

The proceeds from their fundraising are going straight to the Greater Rolla Area Charitable Enterprise [GRACE], which is an organization that provides food and other necessities for families throughout the Rolla area.

“When Kara made the first donation, we kind of felt guilty and wanted to give it to charity,” Olberg said.

Day and Olberg were unsure of how much money would be raised by the event, but with the help of teachers and fellow students, they have pulled in a few hundred dollars.

“So far, we have about three hundred dollars pledged,” senior and event funds supervisor Abagail Campbell said.  “Eighteen people have pledged, with a majority being teachers.”

For the past couple weeks, strange looks and whispers have followed Day and Olberg around the hallways.

“You see people talking about you,” Olberg said. “[They’re] not exactly saying things to you, but you know that they’re talking about you. “[We get a lot of looks,] especially when we walk together in the hall, we get a lot of looks.”

Some of the sweaters they have acquired have caused them to stick out as they walk around the school, but since they’re wearing them for a good cause, the looks are something they don’t think twice about.

“You see like three people looking at you and laughing and I’m just like, ‘Yeah, I’m wearing a Christmas sweater,’” Day said.