On March 1, Becton students participated in this year’s CANstruction event at the American Dream Mall! CAN-struction is a charity event hosted by the Bergen County Office of Food Security aimed to “bring awareness to food insecurity and encourage donations to local food pantries,” says Becton science teacher Ms. Angela Calasso.
The participants included, Emma Aumack, Devanshu Bodhankar, Francesca Buda, Domenic Maucione, Christian Perez, Timothy Pineda, Robert Polanco, Nina Podkalicka, Allison Rodriguez, Gabrielle Szymski, and Mika Tampadong.
Becton Regional High School competed against three other schools– Bergen Tech, Bergen Community College and Ramapo College. With critical thinking and engineering skills, all contestants were required to build a self-supporting, 6ft by 6ft structure made entirely of food cans, following the “Healthy Eating” theme.
“The planning process was a bit sporadic,” says participant Gabrielle Szymski. “We didn’t have much time to plan everything out but we capitalized on the time we did have and were able to accomplish a lot.” Becton’s team settled on a design, then had to research online which cans would coordinate with the colors they needed and take note of their dimensions– especially making sure that they were all the same height. Digitally and on graph paper, they made models of their structure and calculated the amount of cans needed for each layer, ensuring that they used as many as they could within their 6ft x 6ft x 6ft restrictions. Once all blueprints were submitted, they had to secure a sponsor for their team. Their sponsor ended up being Commissioner Tracy Zur, who funded the cans used and supported the team throughout the event.
Despite going up against two colleges and a technical high school, one of the teams even being a college engineering physics club, the Becton team did not lose hope and “believed we still had a great shot at winning an award!”
The cans used were all purchased and stored at the American Dream Mall. Building commenced around 10 P.M. and students worked in shifts tirelessly until 4 A.M. to complete their build. Their hard work earned them a solid second place in the competition– losing by only 35 votes in the fan vote and being neck-and-neck in the judge vote.
After the event, all cans were donated to local food pantries all over Bergen County. “The cause is paramount,” Christian Perez voices. “Our focus is on aiding those in need.” Bringing awareness to those struggling to put food on the table was a very important and rewarding experience for those involved.
It brought attention to “food deserts,” or places with “low access to fresh produce” and whose most common accessible food sources are fast food chains like McDonald’s or Burger King. “There are few places to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables and/or they cost more than a Big Mac,” Ms. Calasso explains. Their watermelon structure represents the need for low-income cities to have access to fresh and affordable produce.
This was Becton’s first year participating in this event. Students were picked based on academic standing, involvement in extracurricular activities, and being able to work as a team. Even though they did not want to go too over-the-top with their design, being first-time competitors, the final structure ended up being “a lot grander than I could have imagined,” as expressed by chemistry teacher Mr. Lind.
Although many of the team members are graduating and will not be participating next year, they see their placement in second as a motivator for a future win, and believe that those competing should attempt something riskier and more outside the box.
It gives the team “great satisfaction and pride,” says senior Szymski, to see their work displayed in the American Dream Mall, and the team found it to be a very “cool and fulfilling experience,” says senior Perez.
This competition proves how ulta-competitive and determined Becton students can be, and “seeing how well a group of students pulled it together in a short period of time was truly breathtaking,” Mr. Lind says. Similarly, Ms. Calasso was proud to see the “Wildcat spirit” shining through the entire event, finding the students’ morale exceptional and exciting to watch.
Finding great pride in their “One-In-A-Melon” structure, the Becton team strives to bring home the win next year!
See more footage of the CANstruction HERE!
