Students get creative with donated food at Canstructure Competition
Posted: April 28, 2025
Each year, students find new and different ways to create innovative designs with canned food donations they have collected.
Newport News Public Schools students showed off their skills at the Youth Volunteer Corps of Hampton Roads Annual Canstructure Competition April 26 at Patrick Henry Mall.
Canstructure is a benefit for the Foodbank of the Virginia Peninsula where teams of students collect and find innovative ways to use hundreds of cans of food to build a unique three-dimensional work of art. This year's theme was "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
All 18,844 of the cans collected were donated to the Foodbank upon completion of the competition.
An Achievable Dream Academy collected the most cans and received the most points to earn the Grand Champion overall award.
For middle schools, Ella Fitzgerald Middle School was the winner with Gildersleeve Elementary School honored as runner-up. Richneck Elementary School was runner-up in the elementary school category.
Denbigh High School was the runner-up in the high school category.
Elementary school teams constructed their canstructures at their respective schools and judges visited prior to Saturday to record each team's presentation. Middle and high school teams built their canstructures at the mall with their innovation and creativity on display for community members to see happening in real time.
