‘Americana’ on display in Battle of the Schools can sculptures

This year is Trehab’s/WNEP’s 31st Annual Feed A Friend program and to help kick it off was the fourth Annual Battle of the Schools Can Sculpture Contest took place on Friday with five area schools participating.

Schools that entered the contest were Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Montrose, Mountain View Elementary and Mountain View High School.

The theme for this year’s sculptures was “Americana!”

Montrose School District collected over 4,000 cans and created “Sea to Shining Sea” can structures of the Nicholson Bridge, complete with train/conductor and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The bridges were built by Ben Hoal, Kiera Karpov, Melissa Bourizk, Radvile Vaiciuloite of the Student Council.

The Student Council can collection campaign included a paper linked chain for each grade, 1 can equaled five chain links or 25 cents a link. The completion of the grades was fierce with the chain links hanging from the ceilings and flowing thru all the halls in the schools.

With this Campaign, the result was over 4,000 cans collected to produce the stunning bridges.

At the Elk Lake School, Sean Smith, spokesmen for the Student Council said their can collection came from a Halloween themed fundraiser called Haunted Hallways and raised enough money to purchase cans to create “United We Stand.”

United We Stand was a detailed Bald Headed Eagle and map of the United States. Smith said that the color and shading had to be perfect and indeed it was. The Eagle head was made from packets of gravy.

Mountain View Elementary School did a very patriotic wavy Betsy Ross American Flag guided by their Student Council.

This Flag was created from cans collected from each class with the winning class getting extra recess and lunch time. Elementary Art teacher, Robin Phillips had all students make Betsy Ross Stars for the flag and 50 were picked to put the final touch on the Can Sculptured wavy flag.

At the Mountain View High School, it was a contest of Students vs. Teachers to see who could bring in the most cans. The competition here was fierce, too.

Student Council organized the call collection contest that brought in about 2,200 cans and won over the teachers by about 20 cans.

Senior Brandon Freely lead the design and construction team, Allison Showalter and Heather Chrzan to create “Rockin’ in the USA” themed Can Sculpture, the Sculpture was a mural style creation of the American Flag with the United States created with green bean cans. A star was placed at the location of Mountain View School.

It also included a New York skyline, bridge with cars and a light show to play with the song, “Rockin’ in the USA.”

The Blue Ridge School District Leo Club members, Gwen MacConnell, Abby Hartmann, Miranda Brulla and Janelle Oakely were inspired by a trip to Washington, D.C. and created a “Tribute to Veterans and Wounded Warrior” themed can sculpture and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Leo Club established a can collection contest between the all classes. Mrs. Jesse’s class won a pizza party as a result of their collections.

All Students have stated that they learn a lot creating the sculptures as there are many involved with the creation. Advisors, art teachers, math and technology teachers join in to assist with the can sculptures and this year was especially educational with the Americana theme.

This year the judges were Susquehanna County Commissioner Maryann Warren, Susquehanna County Recorder of Deeds Mary Evans, and Community and Montrose Rotary Representative Ruth Wilmarth and traveled from school to school judge. Judges announced winners as being:

Best of Show: Mountain View High School
Most Patriotic: Mountain View Elementary School
Most Dramatic: Blue Ridge School District
Most Inspirational: Montrose School District
Americana At Its Best: Elk Lake School District

Montrose Kiwanis Club assists by picking up the food from the schools and delivering it to the Food Banks. The Susquehanna/Oakland food bank is assisted by the Susquehanna Boy Scouts and Girl Scout Troops 81 with community food drives and food is moved to the Canawacta Bingo Hall by many Susquehanna Volunteers.

Many community organizations participate to make this program a success and Trehab thanks all who participate. Susquehanna County Churches provide dessert fixings, such as cake mixes, icing, pie fillings and boxed pie crust mixes for the Feed A Friend Thanksgiving dinners. Peoples Security Bank and Trust employees sold Solar Bobbleheads, Lauretta Button and April Harvey said the donations came to $1,000.

Money collected pays for the Turkeys and extra items needed to provide all with a Thanksgiving dinner.

Trehab representative, Edlyn Flannery said that last year Feed a Friend, with schools and community help, 869 households were served totaling 2,955 individuals (seniors, homebound, disabled, individuals and families) and expect the count to be the same if not more.

Trehab is extremely grateful for all donations as all will be used in the Feed A Friend giveaway and stock Trehab’s two food banks located in Montrose and Susquehanna to help those in need.