Funderwear is a long-standing tradition that has existed since 2005. It is a an exciting competition for a great cause between St. Joe and Cor Jesu Academy. The competition consists of fundraising, a heated game of tug-of-war, and an intense game of basketball between the two schools. 

Both are allowed one week to collect as much socks and underwear as they can. Everything that is raised is donated to the Saint Patrick Center which is an organization that helps the homeless in St. Louis. This year at St. Joe, when the students donated they were able to put their donations into certain bins that had teachers names on them. Whichever bin was the most full meant that those teachers got pied in the face during a spirit event the week of Funderwear. This encouraged the students to donate more. 

This year the Angles collected an incredible 14,000 pairs of socks and underwear. Although they did not raise enough to be the Chargers they still raised an astounding amount that will help many people that are less fortunate. 

The tug-of-war competition gets more heated every year. Each team consists of the schools strongest students. They all fight down to the last second to get the victory for their school. This year it was a tough battle. The Angles pulled until they couldn’t anymore and even though Cor Jesus won it was still a great competition. 

Math teacher Ms. Hailey Meersman is the moderator of spirit club. She loves getting all the students eager for Funderwear. Her favorite part about it all is putting together the tug-of-war team. 

“We started doing tryouts last year. Students used to be chosen on the spot right before the competition. I started doing tryouts as a joke, but then a hundred students came and got really into it, and we ended up with a really strong team. They even created matching outfits this year,” Ms. Meersman said.

The basketball games are the main event of the competition. There is lots of heat and rivalry in this game. Every player puts their all into. Every year it switches back and forth from being hosted at each school. St. Joe also always comes up with an interactive theme. This year the theme was “We Spy” so all the students dressed up in their best spy outfits. This year the JV team pulled out a great win. Then came the big game, which was the Varsity teams. The game was hard fought by the varsity Angles even though they did not pull out the win in the end. 

Sophomore Anna Reese loved all the excitement during the game.

“Funderwear this year was so very entertaining to watch. It was really nice to see so many of the students show up and dress in the theme to watch the game,” Anna said. 

Although St. Joe might not have won much this year they still fulfilled the whole mission of Funderwear. The mission of helping the people in St. Louis that are in need of basic necessities to survive.