“One minute left,” senior class vice-president Sherry Zaki loudly announced into the microphone on Nov. 22, the day of the canned food drive competition. Stressed students ran around, struggling to finish their classes’ towers built out of cans stacked on top of each other. Even though students were freezing amid the cold gusts of wind, they were determined to build the highest tower, aiming to win the grand prize of ice cream for their class.

Spanish teacher Julie Ann Melville’s fourth period class won the contest with their lean, tall tower. “I feel proud of my students,” Melville said. “They planned, they practiced, and they executed; secrets to success of any victorian.”

Students were equally excited when informed of the win. Freshman Sona Aghasaryan from Melville’s class said, “I was a little surprised that our class won since we had fewer cans than the other classes, but I’m really glad we did.” Although English teacher Carol Pettegrew’s class did not win the height contest, it did have the largest amount of cans. “Even though we didn’t win, we’re really happy that we donated so much,” Pettegrew said.

Students from all classes seemed to have a great time building the towers; however, the strong wind was not on their side. When Zaki announced that there were only a couple minutes remaining, junior Mary Agajanian in Spanish teacher Anne Reinhard’s class frantically joked, “Can you make the wind stop for the next two minutes please?”

Because of the wind, chemistry teacher Loussik Kassakhian’s class’s cans fell numerous times, but the damage did not end there. Just seconds after time was called, three towers also came crashing down.

Nevertheless, the canned food drive was a huge success as it allowed students to help out locally while also having fun. Even though the day was cold and gloomy, students’ spirits remained warm and cheerful, as all were excited to be giving back to their community.