Going Once... Going Twice… SOLD!

Rosie Shin

“500 going once… going twice... Sold!” exclaimed Mr. Karl Steinkamp to the crowd of parents and children sitting in front of the podium at the basketball court.

On March 12, the PTO organized the International Food Fair they hold annually. Once again, food stands of all kinds of delicious delicacies awaited the students and parents on the court. During this food fair, the Junior Class participated in an event to serve the community and raise money for their own Junior Class Store: Junior for Hire. Similar to the Junior Senior Banquet, as part of the Junior Class tradition, the juniors planned different activities in groups.

Starting from throwing a birthday party or a princess-themed party to tutoring children in instruments or academic subjects, the juniors prepared their unique events together. They brainstormed all kinds of ideas and then chose the ones they decided would work the best. Some of the juniors even prepared for two or more different events. On the actual day, the juniors advertised their special activities in front of the parents and waited for the parents to “buy” them. As Natasha Palanivel (11) said, “I was part of two groups in which my first group was to sell our services as a live band, and the second group was to sell our services as cleaning services.”

After the first group of juniors went up on the stage, the other groups of juniors watched and waited nervously in line for their turns. Excited murmurs buzzed around the whole basketball court whenever Mr. Steinkamp started the next round of auction. Once the next group of juniors stood on the stage, Mr. Steinkamp started counting up from RM100 until a hand no longer popped up from the crowd of families and the bidding stopped. After the group of juniors was “sold,” Mr. Steinkamp sent the group to the family who bought them; and the juniors gave the parents their numbers or email addresses.

Through this event, the juniors not only raised a significant amount of money as a class but they also experienced a different type of service besides the Servathon. As Nicholas Khor (11) said, “This fundraiser not only takes off our general funding needs, but I’m glad this experience also gave our class an enriching learning opportunity.”