Last Wednesday, it would have been a feat to successfully cross the upstairs hallways. The library doors were pushed open and students awkwardly shuffled by, slowly trying to push their way in. Others slowly made their way out, clutching their new found T-shirts, shoes, and jeans. Forge students had just been provided with an opportunity never before seen at Forge.

In case you missed the dozens of people walking around holding piles of clothes in their arms, Forge Thrifts was a huge success.

However, the inspiration behind it wasn’t just to improve the style of the Forge student body, co-founder Avery Ponton (‘23), offered a much deeper reasoning behind it.

“I know a lot of students struggle with money insecurity and aren’t able to get new clothes and stuff. So I thought it would be a good idea to have students come in and get the clothes they may need. I had to do something for FCCLA so I went to Mr. Heller about it and he told me another girl in his Learn and Serve class had a similar idea,” Avery said.

“We had to do a project for Heller’s class and so I wanted to do a shed type of thing with clothes for people in need and that kind of got shut down. Then our ideas were combined and we decided to do just one big day of it. Working together made it easier because we had similar ideas and we just kind of fed off each other,” Kaitlyn Jaquez (’23), the other co-founder, said.

Several students that attended had a great time and were able to find new additions to their closet.

“I got two pairs of jeans, one from American Eagle and one from Levi’s. I also got a crew neck and a long sleeve shirt. It was kind of hard to find pants, everything was kind of thrown together but that’s to be expected with a bunch of teenagers,” Allen Carbajal (’24) said.

“I got a pair of jorts, a camouflage zip up hoodie, and a red graphic t-shirt. I usually go thrifting and this was pretty spot on with all the different sections, the only thing was that it was very crowded. I’ll definitely go back next year if they do it,” Julian Mosé (’25) said.

Julian’s wish was granted.

“I’ve talked to Mr. Heller about it and he said he will definitely keep it going next year which I am very pleased about,” said Avery.

“I’ve gone thrifting before at a few different locations and this was honestly pretty accurate to that experience. My only problem was that I didn’t know where the men’s stuff was so I spent like half the time looking for that. But I’m still going to go back next year, it was free and I got a lot of valuable stuff, I really hope it’s continued” Patrick McPeak (‘24) said.

Overall most students shared Patrick’s opinion which hopefully is enough to maintain this new school tradition. Forge Thrifts was a huge success and a welcome addition to the cycle of the year.