Advisories have competed in the Canstruction competition for several years now here at Trinity Prep. This year, the school combined to donate a total of 7063 cans to the Second Harvest Food Bank, which add up to 5668 meals for food pantries and kids’ daycares.
Canstruction also adds an extra component to its competition. Advisories also compete to construct the most creative design out of the cans that they collected. This further encourages students to bring in more cans so that they can create the most impressive structure. Advisories built anything from fireplaces to football stadiums.
Advisor Michael Hill’s advisory holds the record this year for bringing in the most cans. Their 598 cans in total helped win the ninth graders a casual day. One student in Hill’s advisory, Ben Graumann, is proud of the advisory’s efforts and everyone’s commitment.
“I think the number was really impressive,” Graumann said. “It was way more than I thought we were going to bring in. It was definitely a group effort. A lot of people brought in a lot of stuff.”
Advisor Michael Hill is particularly passionate about canstruction, and he encouraged each of his advisees to bring at least 50 cans each. On top of what his advisees already brought, he pledged to multiply that amount by 1.5. Hill’s dedication to the annual can drive stems from realizing how fortunate he and many others are to have not experienced being homeless.
“I was listening to a sermon talking about what it’s like to be homeless,” Hill said. “No one ever plans to be homeless or says, I am going to be hungry one day. No one believes that that’s going to be them. For our kids, including myself, I don’t know that we ever will. Whenever given the opportunity, whether it was here or at my previous school, I try and convey that experience to the kids and encourage them to participate. And I’ve been lucky the kids have been fairly receptive to that.”
