As Jefferson seniors walk into the art gallery during Homecoming week, they’ll see four years of growth and persistence come to life.
“I’ve been running it [the canned food competition] for the last four years, since freshman year,” senior Ayesha Gulzar said. “In the way that it’s run, the rules that [Student Government Association] (SGA) gives haven’t changed very much.”
Their development since freshman year highlights how far the class has come.
“In terms of how our class has grown, in terms of how canned food works, our freshman year we had a lot of trouble advertising and getting donations,” Gulzar said. “So we ended up having only 12 cans our freshman year for our sculpture.”
The following year, the class pushed for a better sculpture.
“Our second year we ended up being a little more ambitious,“ Gulzar said. “We didn’t get as many cans as we were hoping for, but we ended up getting a pretty intricate design—a Barbie shoe out of cans.”
It wasn’t until their junior year that the seniors were able to see more success.
“Last year was when we really started to understand how to get donations and advertise properly, so more and more people were contributing,” Gulzar said. “We got around 250–300 cans.”
This year, the class took everything they learned into their last Homecoming canned foods drive.
“We carried all of that knowledge into this year,” Gulzar said. “So this year we have around 400–500 cans along with a lot of book donations and dry food donations, so like pastas and rice and things like that.”
The contest requires classes to design sculptures primarily from donated goods, judged on creativity, school spirit and originality. But for Gulzar, the competition is about more than just winning points, it’s about giving back to the community.
“I really hope that people understand that all in all, at the end of the day, even though the canned food drive is a competition, it’s an act of service,” Gulzar said. “You’re giving donations to people who need it.”
While seniors are certainly aiming high, Gulzar sees value across all classes.
“Obviously, as seniors, the hope is that we might win, but even if we don’t, it’s nice if another class wins,“ Gulzar said.
The freshmen are using a strategy that is similar to the seniors. The freshmen were able to advertise the effort to many students and families, and collected approximately 400 cans, exceeding their expectations.
“I just wanted to spread more attention to the canned food drive, because I know there is a reputation for canned food [sculptures]not getting enough cans, and that was a big concern for us,“ freshman Benjamin Wang said.
All of the cans will be donated to a local food bank or homeless shelter, with SGA polling the school to choose the recipient.
“I hope that anyone who’s working in any of the classes is able to see the value of their work even if they don’t win,” Gulzar said.