Throughout the week of March 10, when walking past the south end of the Niles North cafeteria, one will notice a line of black tables with dozens of papers on them, supervised by students. This is the famous “tBay” auction, featuring countless items, prizes, and experiences for students and staff alike to place bids on throughout the week of the auction’s hosting.
The auction included a multitude of selections to bid on. These options included food, drink, gift baskets, Chicago sports game tickets, gift cards, prom tickets, apparel merchandise, jewelry, makeup products, a yearbook, and even local radio time. However, some of the most popular items in tBay—including in previous years’ selections—was the opportunity to “pie” certain faculty members in the face during the Spring Pep Assembly. Among all these choices, the ones with the highest retail values also appeared to be some of the most popular.
“The really popular items are sports tickets…Cubs tickets…Bulls tickets…and then, for seniors, prom tickets and yearbooks,” senior and Dance Marathon Executive Henry Sterbenc said. “And there’s also jewelry that people want as well.”
With auctions already over as of Mar. 13, bidders are already preparing to make payments and are excited to receive their specially obtained prize(s).
“I won the soup parade with Mr. Moehlmann,” senior Olivia Russell said. “He’s going to make me three different soups—it’s a meal for five people—for $17. You can’t get that anywhere else. I’m probably gonna get like five of my friends and we’re all gonna eat soup together, and it’s gonna be really cutesy and fun.”
As always, all the tBay funds go directly to Dance Marathon’s annually selected charity, which this year is the Chicago Refugee Coalition.