The entire student body gathered in the gym, excitedly awaiting the start of one of the most highly anticipated weeks of the year: Mission Week. Mission Week is dedicated to raising money for the St. Joe missions in Peru. Students find creative ways to sell different items and clothes to raise money for their class. The Mission Week Kickoff celebrates the start of Mission Week with games and the sale of clothes.

To kick off the start of Mission Week, the Sisters of St. Joseph were invited to come to St. Joe and say a blessing. The sisters were excited to be part of this long-standing tradition at St. Joe.

Campus Minister Mr. Finucane enjoys it when the sisters come to St. Joe.

“I loved seeing the sisters and loved when they blessed the community. They make me feel very connected to St. Joe,” Mr. Finucane said.

After the sisters gave a wonderful blessing to the community, it was time for some friendly competition between the Penny Queens. Each class has a Penny Queen to represent their class through fun games during Mission Week and encourage their class to raise money.

Many games were played, but some favorites were the tricycle race and musical chairs. In the tricycle race, each Penny Queen had to race as fast as possible on a tiny tricycle. The winner received money that went toward their class total.

The game of musical chairs became highly competitive. Each Penny Queen candidate invited one classmate to play this game with them. Even some of the sisters joined in, eager for a chance to win.

Not only did each participant have to find a chair once the music stopped, but they also had to find a different item each round. For example, in one of the rounds, each person had to find a green shoe. Some of these items were harder to find than others, making the game fun for everyone.

It was now time for everyone’s favorite part of the day: buying the Mission Week clothes. Each class designs a piece or two of clothing to help raise money. The designs were shown one by one, starting with the freshman and ending with the seniors. Everyone could feel the excitement building as each piece was shown.

By the end of the kickoff, everyone was on the edge of their seats, patiently waiting for their turn to buy the clothes. One by one, starting with the seniors, every class was called to buy the Mission Week items. Once their class was called, students sprinted to be the first in line. Sophomore Cece Ippolito enjoyed the Mission Week Kickoff but found it stressful when everyone ran around to ensure they could buy the clothes they wanted.

“The Mission Week Kickoff is always so chaotic. People are running everywhere trying to get the clothes they want,” Cece said.

As usual, the clothes sold out extremely quickly. Everyone was super excited about what they bought and the week to come! Mission Week was an exciting week for all students, raising money for a good cause.