About 40 Iowa State students have got the blues.

The students — mostly from Oak and Elm Halls — will be painting their faces blue today, hoping to heighten awareness of the potentially deadly consequences of drinking and driving.

“The people with their faces painted represent people who have died or will die in drunken driving accidents,” said Kerry Lichty, resident assistant in Turner House. “It puts a vivid face on the statistics.”

Lichty said she hopes there will be people who will have their faces painted all day. The event is in conjunction with Alcohol Awareness Week.

Participants will have a set of cards explaining what they represent. They are not supposed to speak throughout the day, giving a true representation of death.

“We want to get more people to participate than last year and reach a larger audience,” Lichty said. “The more people who do this the more people would get the message.”

“I would like the project to have a really strong impact so people will take a second look and try to find out what’s going on,” added Nicole Maffris, Oak-Elm Programming Board president. “The more people see blue faces, the more impact we will have.”

The face painting will be done with hypo-allergenic paint sticks in the Elm Parlor at 7:30 and 11 a.m.

Lichty said anyone interested in participating in the project is welcome to come at these time. Participants need not live in Oak or Elm Halls.