Fourth-grade students made this American flag out of soup cans for the Manor School’s Can-gineering event. Photo by Joelle Weaver.
The combination of getting students to use their knowledge and skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) and helping people less fortunate than themselves is manifested every year in the Can-gineering event at the Honeoye Falls-Lima Manor School, which is always held the Tuesday before Thanksgiving break.
The second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-graders use cans (and some boxes) of food to create their projects relating to whatever the event’s theme is. After judging is done and awards handed out at a school-wide assembly, the food is boxed up and distributed to area food cupboards; this year, the distribution was coordinated by Primetime 585 with the donations going through their outreach with the Rochester City School District. This year, the theme was Teaming Up to Fight Hunger and there were nine projects in all.
One of the projects was a replication of the American Flag by fourth-graders who have just finished studying the American Revolution and related to the theme of Team because of the teamwork it took to fight the British together and to build a new nation. It also earned the Most Patriotic award. Among other projects were Santa and the Elves, Tug of War (voted Most Creative), The Food Chain (won Best Use of Cans), a depiction of how food is grown, a car trip into forests, and the spelling out of the words ‘Together’, “Team” and HF-L Cougars. The second grade was voted the Overall Winner.
Manor School students made this Santa and his Elves structure for the Can-gineering event last week. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
However, the real winners are the people who will receive this donated food, particularly during the holiday season. The students exceeded last year’s total of 2,111 canned and boxed food with a total of 2,306 cans and boxes collected this year. The fifth-graders collected and used the most with 675, followed by the third-grade which brought in 613, the second grade with 595 and the fourth-grade with 423.
