As part of the Counseling Department’s Invisible Line program, eighth graders participated in interactive, mock auction activities on Jan. 22 to reflect on different values they identified as important.
Working with an imaginary budget of $1,000, the students collaborated in small teams both with in-person and remote learners to bid on values – such as creativity, happiness, love, wealth, respect, friendship, popularity, integrity, acceptance and power – based on their belief system. The activities were designed to help students communicate and collaborate in a group where each person has a different perspective and recognize that the prioritization of values may vary from person to person.
“While we planned this lesson with intended objectives, above all, we wanted the kids to have fun,” said middle school counselor Samantha Chu, who organized the activities along with high school counselors Susan Hannon, Amanda Mahncke and Evan Miller. “The past 11 months have been nothing short of challenging, and the kids have shown an incredible amount of resilience and perseverance. With the requirement to socially distance, I am so glad that we found a way to safely continue these transition groups and spend time with my students in person once again.”
For the second part of the program, students will explore the symbolic meaning of the values auction and how values guide one’s thoughts and behavior in the real world.
“During the auction, some groups learned that they could keep bidding in an effort to raise the price and force the other group into bankruptcy, leaving them to be the only remaining bidders on their most desired values that were up next for auction,” Chu said. “In these scenarios, the students quickly realized that their ideal values for integrity and power did not match their actions in the auction.”