When one enters the business world, adversity will often wedge its way into the landscape as employees and leaders push their ways toward success.

Mercer Island High School (MIHS) senior Natalie Sim said that through her experience with the student-run company Mercer Trade Inc., she’s added tenacity, creativity and innovation to her arsenal, which are vital traits that will help her wherever life leads the Islander.

COVID-19 has been part of the adversity the company has faced and has taken Mercer Trade Inc.’s Holiday Auction into the online realm. The event will take place Dec. 13-20 with 25% of the proceeds headed to Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (YFS). Visit the auction link through Auctria at: https://charityauction.bid/MTIHolidayAuction.

Bidders can pre-register and will receive an email when bidding has opened. Bidders can also register at any point during the event, which will begin at midnight on Dec. 13 and close at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 20.

As the company’s chief operating officer (COO), Sim said she’s run up against stress while helping organize the auction, but it’s been satisfying watching it all come to fruition.

“It has been an experience like no other. It was definitely diving into the deep end. It’s definitely not dipping your toes in the business world, but it has been super fun, it’s been challenging, it’s been a great time to work alongside my peers and put together something that’s so important,” she said.

Chief financial officer (CFO) Walker Guerra, whose mother is on the YFS board, said the company’s goal is to raise $5,000 at the auction, which will feature items ranging from one night in a hotel suite to a signed Seattle Sounders FC jersey from MIHS graduate Jordan Morris to gift cards from businesses and more.

“It’s something that I’m passionate to giving back to and I’m excited to see how much we can raise for them,” he said, noting that after donating to YFS, the remainder of the money will go back into the company. For instance, one of the subsidiaries is hoping to produce custom Mercer Island-themed masks.

Mercer Trade Inc. is run by seniors in Jennifer McLellan’s MIHS international entrepreneurship class. The application-based teacher-vetted course features the school’s highest-performing business students, who have taken multiple business courses. Last year’s class partnered with the Mercer Island Community Fund for the We Love MI campaign that raised a quarter of a million dollars when COVID hit last spring.

The business trades with students and companies from around the world, and performs market research on international markets and analyzes global economies, according to its web site.

“I’m blessed with amazing students every year in this class. It’s just a privilege to be with them,” McLellan said.

Bella Hartman, the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), said that running an online auction seemed like the most interesting and profitable idea for the company to bring to the community in place of its usual in-person holiday bazaar.

“We thought giving 25 percent of the profits to Mercer Island Youth and Family Services made sense around our central theme of family and keeping the community together during these times,” she said.

Hartman said the students were slightly nervous about running the company and auction virtually because a major part of the class is interacting with each other face to face while honing their business skills.

The Islanders have made it work.

“As CEO, it’s been a really good experience for me to learn how to lead my peers and learn how to work with people and accept that we’re all going through different things in our lives right now, especially with COVID being so pressing right now with the numbers going up,” Hartman said. “It’s been a good experience to learn how to communicate with people and be empathetic with the people I’m leading.”

Guerra, who also runs the Finance Club at MIHS, said he’s looking forward to seeing what the students can achieve this year. The experience has been so impactful that he’s hoping to take the skills and knowledge he’s accumulated at MIHS to business school next year.