Throughout the 2019-20 school year, many Parker students have seen a familiar red trolley around the school, on stickers and tables with the leaders of this year’s auction. The title of the Parker Auction 2020 was “A beautiful day to be you.” This year’s auction was different than those of the past. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, leaders of the auction and Parker parents Sang Ellis, Nicole Jackson, and Tonia Kim were forced to make significant changes. Instead of the 2020 Parker Auction, Saturday, May 9 was the first virtual Parker Auction. 

The main purpose of the Parker Auction is to raise money for the scholarship fund. According to the school’s website, Parker “awards more than $5 million in financial assistance each year.” Consequently, events such as the auction are able to “play a critical role in our school’s ability to deliver on this promise each year.” Due to its “critical role,” the auction occurred in spite of the pandemic.

Parker’s auction began in 1959 with the goal of raising $18,000 to help benefit the financial assistance program. This notion has stayed the same for the past six decades, helping the families of Parkers students.

In 2020, the Parker community adapted to keep the auction alive, despite the pandemic. On Saturday, May 9, more than 180 guests attended the first-ever virtual auction: “A Beautiful Night to Zoom.” Among those guests were parents, parents emeritus, alumni, grandparents, faculty, and staff. During the auction, there were three events: Virtual Silent Auction, Virtual Paddle Raise, and Mystery Night, each with the same goal, to provide funds for financial assistance. 

This year, the sixtieth anniversary of the auction, the Parker community came together during times of hardship and “raised over $850,000 for financial assistance, enabling the school to continue to provide financial support to current and future families who may need additional resources.” This was the message sent to all of the Parker community via email, after the auction had concluded.

Principal Dan Frank enjoyed the event but would have preferred in-person interpersonal interaction. “The auction was not as enjoyable an experience as actually being with people in person,” Frank said. 

Despite the virtual nature of the auction, Frank believes that attendees created a lovely environment. “The event was warm and Parker-like,” Frank said.

According to Frank, this auction was the most different than any other Parker auction in history. Like many other faculty members, Frank was “more impressed by what was similar to past auctions than by what was different.” This statement was due to the “tribute to Parker creativity, citizenship and community.” The Parker Auction is made to help serve the community, but even though the Parker community could not gather together, parents were still able to show the “love and generosity expressed by our community.” Frank also emphasized how this could not have been done without the advocacy of the “volunteers and staff to pivot so quickly.” In addition, this meant that “their dedication and leadership” was really able to help make a difference in the Parker community as well as showing a “tribute to Parker creativity, citizenship and community.”

In addition to Frank, there were other leaders of this event such as Anedra Kerr, The Chief of Advancement for FWP and Chuck Lira, the Associate Director for Special Events. Like Frank, Lira agreed that the auction was a success. The planning for the auction change was also quite simple, as Lira reached out to vendors and “roll the money into next year’s event.” In addition, Lira was able to work with his co-chairs on finding which items in the silent auction would still be usable due to the fact that “the plan was to have a virtual silent auction.” 

Due to COVID-19, some of the auction items, such as sporting events, would have been canceled by the time of May 8, the launch of the auction. In total, 180 people were able to tune in, which was, “very exciting,” Lira said. The virtual paddle raise, done over video-conferencing platform ‘Zoom,’ was a success according to Lira. As Frank and Lira both said, even though it was a new scenario, both “enjoyed seeing our community come together and have a great evening for financial aid,” and how it “goes to show how strong the Parker community is and how we all band together during a time of need,” this time during COVID-19.