Imagine a crowd full of hyped college students. The atmosphere is electric and the music is pumping. As the crowd lingers with anticipation for the battle signal, there is cheering, laughter and enough energy to keep Boise powered for a week, but there’s one thing missing: Their clothes.
At a first glance, it is difficult to understand why running around campus in your underwear speaks “tradition.” But as the annual “Undie Run” returns for its ninth year, student organizers and seniors, Austin Julian and Carson Winter, explain the event became more than the name suggests.
“The goal is to foster more of a student life activity,” Julian explains, “It’s a little uncomfortable, but it gets people out of their comfort zones at the same time.”
This peculiar vision is what has kept the Undie Run alive for almost a decade as running across campus in just your underwear isn’t exactly within many people’s comfort zones.That discomfort creates a shared experience among the students because for one night, students are encouraged to let go of their stress, laugh at themselves and experience something new.
Behind the crowd of people in their underwear and the hyped cheering, this event also includes a philanthropic aspect that is the reason for leaving participants with less clothes than they arrived with.
Before students initiate the run from the starting line, they are encouraged to shed the clothes they are currently wearing and place them into collection bins. These items of clothing are then donated to the Boise Rescue Mission, a resource program that helps people recover from homelessness in the Treasure Valley.
“Our hope is that people who show up will, and when they do, strip down and donate their clothes,” Julian said.
Many can consider it an unusual formula for a philanthropy event, but perhaps that is part of the reason the event stuck around for so long, and grew exponentially.
An entire generation of participants helps maintain this campus tradition, and this year, there may be more students than ever making that decision.
At the beginning of the night, four empty donation bins sat by the starting line. By the time the final students had crossed the finish line, all four bins were overloaded with donated shirts and pants, destined to make an impact on the Boise Rescue Mission. Serving as a tangible reminder that beneath the spectacle is actually a tradition that centers on giving back to the community.
Those numbers represent more than just a successful social media campaign for Julian and Winter, it offers a glimpse into how successful a student-run tradition can become when the students themselves are responsible for keeping it alive.
“When we look into the crowd and kids are cheering, they’re having a good time, and they’re laughing, it just warms my heart to know that was because of us,” said Winter.
The organizers attribute the growth to collaborations made with other Boise State focused social media accounts, which helped the event reach students who may have not heard about the tradition otherwise.
For the hosts, the Undie Run doesn’t begin the moment students strip down and start running. Putting on this event requires planning a specific route, showing up early to set up donation bins, and promoting the run and coordinating details to encourage students to participate. After experiencing the Undie Run themselves as freshman, hosting it has also taken on a deeper meaning.
“It’s rewarding to not just foster the event itself and the joy that it brings to everybody, but it’s also about being able to give back,” said Julian.
For the past three years, Julian and Winter shouldered that responsibility, however, everyone’s time at Boise State must come to an end. With the events’ 10th anniversary approaching next year, the graduating seniors are looking to pass the torch to someone who shares the same passion and dedication as this years’ hosts to the Undie Run’s success.
“Whoever takes it over, they need to put in the same amount of passion and energy into it as the participants will,” said Winter, emphasizing that it is a responsibility they hope to pass on to students who understand the tradition beyond just running around campus in your underwear.
As of next year, that responsibility will fall into the hands of Jimmy Deslaurier, who plans to build on the event’s success by using it to connect more students with the Boise State community.
“For me, taking over this role is an exciting opportunity to be involved in my school and encourage student spirit,” Deslaurier said. “I’m looking forward to growing this successful event that my predecessors have done such an excellent job building.”
As the Undie Run approaches a decade on campus, Dislaurier said he has two goals for its next chapter: getting more students involved with the Boise State community and boosting donations for local charities.
“To be passed this torch for a seemingly goofy event is rewarding,” said Julian, “To be able to foster such a unique and one-of-a-kind memory for the people on campus warms my heart too.”
