Olds High School students collected 844 pairs of jeans during their Teens for Jeans campaign, which ended on Feb. 23.
The campaign was started on Jan. 14 by students in the school's leadership class and was originally to run until Feb. 10, but it was extended for two more weeks.
"It was a very successful campaign, and just thanks to all the students, staff and community members that donated from their surplus,î said Louan Statchuk, one of the sponsoring teachers of the leadership class.
The campaign was sponsored by Aeropostale clothing stores as a way to get jeans into the hands of homeless youth. Jeans are the No. 1 item that youth ask for.
Statchuk said this effort demonstrated one of the core values the class tries to instill in youth ñ that of community service.
"We're very fortunate to live in Alberta, to live in our community and it is important for us to have the students see that we need to extend outside of ourselves and give back to those who are less fortunate than we are,î she said.
Statchuk said raising awareness of teen homelessness was also an objective of the campaign as well as getting the students to realize that there are people their own age wrestling with that issue.
"A lot of times, I think we think of adults who are homeless, instead of seeing that there's a lot of teens out there,î she said.
The leadership class is composed of about 40 students who take the for-credit course during the entire school year. Members of the class went to the Me-to-We day in October in Calgary.
"A number of projects spurred from that and right now we try to do projects that are both for the betterment of our school, our community and globally. And then just another component of the leadership is to look at planning activities to build school spirit,î she said.
"It was a very successful campaign, and just thanks to all the students, staff and community members that donated from their surplus."Louan Statchuk, teacher, Olds High School
