story by Torie Richardson, photos by Jesse Walker-McGraw

“You’re doing it wrong!”

“You’re wasting all your money.”

“Mackenzie, stop, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

As she walked through the STA hallways, freshman Mackenzie O’Guin heard these pieces of advice about her bidding over $100 on an item in the Mission Week silent auction.

An annual event, Mission Week was held Jan. 27 – 31. According to O’Guin, plenty of STA students judged her and senior Natalie Nuessle for their increasing amount of bids on the Mission Week lunch with theology teachers Matthew Bertalott, Michael Sanem and Robert Tonnies.  The battle between Nuessle and O’Guin, for a “Lunch with Wise Men” became serious quickly, with the final bid at $160, according to O’Guin.

Because of her status as an underclassman, O’Guin tried to stay out of Nuessle’s way at the beginning of the auction.

“[Nuessle] never saw me bid for like the first three days,” O’Guin said. “I was just cowering in the corner like ‘Oh my God.’”

According to O’Guin, when Nuessle discovered O’Guin was her rival bidder, Nuessle said that O’Guin was an “entitled freshman.” Hearing this, O’Guin became more determined to win. Nuessle and O’Guin would stay after school until 3:30 or 3:45 p.m., each battling to get ahead. O’Guin was even attentive to bid changes during school.

“Between classes and everything, I would run over and check and make sure I was still in the lead,” O’Guin said.

According to Nuessle, however, she “wasn’t really that upset that a freshman was going to win.”

“It made me a little bit upset because I work here [at STA],” Nuessle said, referring to her after-school job. Nuessle said she talks to Tonnies and Sanem as she cleans recycling.

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Though competitive nature was part of the reason for high bids, Nuessle cites the Erin Andra Wilson Foundation as one of the most important reasons she was willing to donate over $100. In 2003, the Erin Andra Wilson Foundation was founded to “provide emotional and financial assistance to families of children with cancer and blood-related illnesses,” according to its website. This year, all proceeds from Mission Week went to this foundation, which was dedicated to the sister of STA alumna Rachel Wilson.

“I think it was a good cause overall,” Nuessle said.

To O’Guin, the Erin Andra Wilson Foundation “hits close to home.”

“Madi Winfield is my best friend,” O’Guin said, referring to an STA freshman recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “Seeing her go through chemo has been really hard. [The foundation] is a amazing cause … I don’t regret anything.”

Sanem said he was happy to donate lunch to the cause, but did so thinking the lunch would bring in a maximum of $10. When Nuessle told him the lunch bids had risen over $100, Sanem said he was shocked.

“It was unreal,” Sanem said. “I have no idea what to think.”

O’Guin was not surprised at teachers’ reactions to her high bids, stating they were probably “scared, confused, and mildly flattered in a slightly creepy way.”

One day during Mission Week, after the close of the silent auctions, O’Guin ran into her theology classroom with a smile spreading across her face, full of excitement.

“Tonnies! Guess what? I won your silent auction!” O’Guin said.

“What was the top bid?” Tonnies asked.

She told him.

“Mackenzie!” Tonnies said. “That wasn’t worth it.”

But when O’Guin finally scribbled her name after the number 160, one thought prevailed in her mind, “Go big, or go home.”