The CANstruction Competition took place at the SHOP courtyard on Wednesday, Oct. 11. The event was sponsored by the Chamberlain Student Center and Campus Activities which ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event provided free food, as well as free T-shirts celebrating the centennial, and above all, amazing creations made of canned items. 

The competition consists of teams that will bring their own canned items and create a “CANstruction” to fit the homecoming theme, and everything that is used is then donated to The SHOP at the conclusion of the event.

Homecoming is a time of celebration and an opportunity to bring the entire staff and student body together. CANstruction does this but is most notable for donating to a good cause.

“We created it because we wanted homecoming to have an event that had an element of service to it,” said Melissa Ulmer, the Assistant Director of Marketing and Student Programs. “We thought this would be really fun and creative.”

This event has been able to help stock The SHOP with all kinds of items since the competition started in 2018. The SHOP is Rowan’s on-campus food pantry and resource center for students in need, and every year they receive about 1,500 items from CANstruction.  The SHOP is in room 141 of Building 5 in the Rowan Blvd Apartments and is open Monday through Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Donating to a good cause is what brought out so many students. Theta Phi Alpha’s Brianna Castronovo, a senior business management major, came out with her sorority to get in on the action.

 “We’re heavily based in philanthropies. We’re always seeing where we can donate stuff too,” said Castronovo. “It’s also something we can just get a whole bunch of cans and have fun with it and give back as well.”

Clubs and sororities came out in droves to participate, and their creativity was on full display during the competition. Theta Phi Alpha sorority built an NFL logo out of cans, with a 100 inside, since the NFL is also over a century old– sticking with the centennial theme. The Rowan Environmental Action League created a graph, out of macaroni boxes and cans, of the global temperature of the last 100 years. The Rowan Bowling Club constructed the number 100 out of cans, ramen, and potato chips. 

The event, as well as homecoming as a whole, is bittersweet for seniors. While they’re excited to get out into the world, they admit they’ll miss these moments alongside their peers. A member of the Bowling Club, Patrick McGuire, a senior and business major, agrees with these sentiments. 

“Knowing that it might be my last one it’s like, wow,” said McGuire. “It’s always fun to do these events but it is a bit sad too because they are always fun. It’s always nice to interact with my club members or people in my classes.” 

The creations of the teams will be judged on their appearance, execution, creativity and design, theme, and articulation. However, the winners will not be announced until the football game on Saturday, Oct. 14 before kickoff. 

CANstruction is a relaxed event when compared to the others, but every year it continues to bring out even more students. 

“To be honest, it gets bigger which is nice,” Ulmer said. “Also, every year the teams have more fun with it and they see what other teams did last year and they’re like, ‘Oh we can do that.’ I feel like they have a lot of fun with it.”

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